Property of
Boston University
Gift of Yf^C^iA^S CT D.O.
Date i^P<^V^ , f\^^
BOOKS BY S. S. CURRY, Ph.D., Litt.D.
More than any man of recent years, Dr. Curry has represented sane and
scientific methods in training the Speaking Voice. — Dr. Shailer Mathews,
University of Chicago.
Of eminent value. — Dr. Lyman Abbott.
Books so much needed by the world and which will not be written unless
you write them. — Rev. C. H. Strong, Rector St. John's Church, Savannah.
Foundations of Expression. A psychological method of developing
■ reading and speaking. 236 practical
problems. 411 choice passages adapted to classes in reading and speaking.
$1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
Lessons in Vocal Expression. The expressive modulations of the
. voice developed by studying and
training the voice and mind in relation to each other. Definite problems and
progressive steps. $1.26; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
Imagination and Dramatic Instinct. Function of imagination
^_^_^— ._——_— ———^-^—— — and assmiilation m the
vocal interpretation of literature and speaking. $1.50; to teachers, $1.20,
postpaid.
Mind and Voice. Principles and Methods in Vocal Training. 456 pp.
— — ^— — ^— — $1.50; to teachers, $1.20 postpaid.
Browning and the Dramatic Monologue. Nature and pecu-
■ liarities of Brown-
ing's poetry. Principles involved in rendering the monologue. Introduction to
Browning, and to dramatic platform art. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
Province of Expression. Principles and Methods of developing de-
___^— ^_^— ^— — — — livery. An introduction to the study of
natural languages, and their relation to art and development. $1.50; to teachers
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Vocal and Literary interpretation of the Bible, introduc-
. *^ tion by
Prof. Francis G. Peabody, D. D., of Harvard University. $1.50; students'
edition, $0.60, postpaid.
Classics for Vocal Expression. Gems from the best authors for
. . voice and mterpretation. In use
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Sooken English. A. psychological method of developing reading, con-
*^ versation and speaking. A book for jxmior students or
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Little Classics for Oral English. Companion to Spoken Eng-
■- lish. Introductory questions
and topics. May be used with Spoken English or separately. Questions and
topics correspond. Fresh and beautiful selections from best authors. 384
pages. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
The Smile. Introduction to action through an example. $1.00. To mem-
bers of The Morning League, $0.75, postpaid.
How to Add Ten Years to Your Life. Nature of training with
,_______^ __« short, practical program.
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Write to Dr. Curry about the Morning League; Summer Terms; Home
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HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS
TO YOUR LIFE
AND TO DOUBLE ITS SATISFACTIONS
BY
S. S. CURRY, Ph.D., Litt.D.
Can you wake as wake the birds?
In their joy and singing share?
Stretch your limbs as do the herds,
And drink as deep the morning air?
Quick as larks on upward wing,
Can you shun the demon's wiles.
Promptly as the robins sing,
Can you change all frowns to smiles?
Can you spurn fear's coward whine,
Meet each day with joyous song?
Then will angels guard your shrine,
Joys be deep and life be long.
BOSTON
SCHOOL OF EXPRESSION
Book Department
Pierce Bldg., Copley Square
BOf^TOM flMlurnr^i^w
Copyright
by
S. S. CURRY
1916
RA
'1
To Those Who
Loyally Responded to The Dream
And to Those Who
By Thought, Word or Act Will Aid
The School of Expression
To Perform Its Important Function In Education.
QUI TRANSTULIT SUSTINET
As ancient exile at the close of day,
Paused on his country's farthest hills to view
Those valleys sinking in the distant blue
Where all the joys and hopes of childhood lay ;
So now across the years our thoughts will stray
To those whose hearts were ever brave and true,
Who gave the hope and faith from which we drew
The strength to climb thus far upon our way.
As he amid the rocks and twilight gray,
Saw rocks and steeps transform to stairs, and knew
He wandered not alone ; so may we too
See this, our tentless crag where wild winds play
A Bethel rise, and we here wake to know
That down and upward angels come and go.
CONTENTS
Page
Why and Wherefore 7
I. Significance of Morning 11
II. Supposed Secrets of Health and Long Life „ 24
III. What is an Exercise? . 43
IV. Program of Exercises ........ 54
V. How to Practice the Exercises ...... 84
VI. Actions of Every Day Life 102
VII. Work and Play 109
VIII. Significance of Night and Sleep 122
WHY AND WHEREFORE
When over eighty years of age, the poet Bryant
said that he had added more than ten years to his
Hfe by taking a simple exercise while dressing in
the morning. Those who knew Bryant and the
facts of his life never doubted the truth of this
statement.
I have made inquiries lately among men who
are eighty years of age, as to their method of
waking up. Almost without exception, I find that
they have been in the habit of taking simple
exercise upon rising and also before retiring.
While studying voice in Paris, over thirty years
ago, my teacher was so busy that he had to take
me before breakfast at an hour which, to a Pari-
sian, was a very early one.
" Vocal exercises may be more difficult at this
time," he said, " but it is the best time. If we
can start the day with the right exercise of the
voice, the use of it all through the day will be addi-
tional right practice."
Later, when I studied with the elder Lamperti
in Italy, I requested and secured an early hour in
the morning for my lessons.
In teaching I have always urged students to take
their exercises the first thing in the morning.
Those who have taken my advice have later been
grateful for the suggestion.
If my own morning exercises are neglected, I
feel as if I had missed a meal or had lost much
WHY AND WHEREFORE
sleep. I was never what is called physically strong ;
in fact, physicians have continually prophesied my
downfall, yet all my life I have performed about
three men's work, and by the use of a few exer-
cises have probably doubled the length of my life.
The subject of human development has always
been of great interest to me. I have tried to
investigate the various systems of gymnastics in
all countries; and, teaching, as I have, about ten
thousand the use of the voice and body in expres-
sion, I have studied training from a different point
of view from that of most men.
I have discovered that the voice cannot be
adequately trained without also improving the
body; that the improvement of the voice can be
doubly accelerated if the body is considered a
factor.
I have also found, what is more important, that
true exercises are all mental and emotional and not
physical, and that both body and voice can never
be truly improved except by right thinking and
feeling.
I, therefore, long ago came to certain conclu-
sions which are not in accordance with common
views. My convictions, however, have been the
result, not only of experience, but of wide study
and investigation.
This book embodies a few points about health ;
without going deeply into the principles involved,
a short programme is given, the practice of which
has already accomplished marvelous results. The
book embodies my own experiences, and obeys
the scientific principles involved in training.
It is meant to be a guide for home study and
practice. The principles are applicable to every-
one. It requires at first, patience, perseverance,
WHY AND WHEREFORE
and resolution at that moment in the day when we
are most liable to be indifferent and negative, if
not irresolute and discouraged. Whoever res-
olutely undertakes to obey the suggestions will
never regret doing so. In fact, it is not too much
to claim that he will not only lengthen his life
but double its satisfactions.
Every reader of the book is requested to become
a member of the Morning League, and whosoever
does so and makes a report or writes to me fully
about special weaknesses, habits, " besetting
sins," or conditions will receive a letter of sugges-
tions.
This book and its companion, "The Smile,''
are published as a part of the great work under-
taken by the friends of the School of Expression ;
the net receipts from the sale will go to the En-
dowment Fund of the institution.
HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO
YOUR LIFE
I
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING
" The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn ;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew-pearled:
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn ;
God's in his heaven —
All's right with the world! "
Song from " Pippa Passes '* Robert Browning
Browning's " Pippa Passes " is a parable or
allegory of human life.
Though called a drama by its author, it em-
bodies, like all plays of the highest type, other than
dramatic elements. In exalted poetry the al-
legoric, lyric, epic and dramatic seem to be blended.
An effort to separate them often seems academic
and mechanical.
Pippa, a poor little silk-winding girl, who has
never known father or mother, opens the poem.
It is the early morning and she wakes with joyous
anticipation of her holiday, her only one. She
goes forth, and we hear her singing and we see
her influencing, from her humble position in the
11
12 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
background, " Asolo's four happiest ones," who
are brought by the action of the drama into the
foreground.
Her character and that of the other persons of
the play are well-defined; but the real theme of
the poem is the unconscious influence that she
exerts upon others. The primary element of
dramatic art is the meeting of people and the in-
fluence they exert upon each other. There is no
direct influence seemingly exerted upon Pippa
herself save at one point and even that is scarcely
a conscious one.
We feel that she is a type of the human soul.
Specific scenes, though intensely dramatic, are
entirely separated from one another.
Accordingly if it is a drama, it is a drama of an
unusual type. It regards the events of only one
day; still that day is not literal; it is a symbol of
the life of everyone. It is New Year's Day, but
every day is the beginning of a new year. It is
a holiday, yet all life, when normally lived, is
dominated by love and sympathetic service, and
is full of happiness.
Pippa sings as everyone should sing with the
spirit of thanksgiving and love. She welcomes the
day with joy as everyone should welcome life
and its opportunities. She lies down to sleep at
night, as we all do; her sun drops into a " black
cloud '* and she knows nothing of what she has
really accomplished or of the revelation that is
coming on the morrow.
Moreover, observe that the link of unity in the
play is found in the songs of Pippa. One might
easily conceive her beautiful character as embody-
ing the very soul of lyric poetry. Hence, in reading
the poem, we are impressed from the first with
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING 13
allegoric, lyric and epic, as well as dramatic
elements.
Observe more closely her awakening. Note
the beautiful description, the gradually lengthening
lines, indicative of the coming morning. [See
page 16.]
She expresses joy as she meditates over her
New Year's hymn. Into this devotional lyric
Browning has breathed the spirit of all true life and
service.
" Now wait! — even I already seem to share
In God's love: what does New-year's hymn declare?
What other meaning do these verses bear?
All service ranks the same with God:
If now, as formerly he trod
Paradise, his presence fills
Our earth, each only as God wills
Can work — God's puppets, best and worst,
Are we; there is no last nor first.
Say not " a small event! " Why " small "?
Costs it more pain that this, ye call
A " great event," should come to pass,
Than that? Untwine me from the mass
Of deeds which make up life, one deed
Power shall fall short in, or exceed!
And more of it, and more of it! oh, yes —
I will pass each, and see their happiness.
And envy none — being just as great, no doubt,
Useful to men, and dear to God, as they!
A pretty thing to care about
So mightily, this single holiday!
But let the sun shine! Wherefore repine?
— With thee to lead me, O Day of mine,
Down the grass path grey with dew.
Under the pine-wood, blind with boughs.
Where the swallow never flew
Nor yet cicala dared carouse —
No, dared carouse! "
From " Pippa Passes " Robert Browning
14 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
As Pippa leaves her room in the full spirit of this
hymn, full of joy, hope and love, she passes into
the street. We hardly catch a glimpse of her until
the close of the day, when she comes back and
lies down to sleep : but we hear her songs and see
the influence which she unconsciously exerts.
This is the real theme of the poem.
Browning's poetic play reveals to us in four
scenes the other side of life, the happier people
to whom Pippa referred in her soliloquy. We
look first into the interior of the old house of which
Pippa has spoken with a kind of awe, and see the
proud Ottima who owns the mills where Pippa is
but a poor worker. In the dark gloom of one of the
rooms Ottima has become the sharer in a murder,
and, under the influence of Pippa's song, which is
heard outside, she and her companion realize
their guilt and are overcome with remorse.
At noon we are introduced to a young artist,
Jules, who is just bringing home his bride, Phene,
whom he has married thinking her a princess, but
who is really a poor, ignorant child. She has been
employed unconsciously, to herself, and innocently
used by some degraded artists as a means of
rebuking the idealist, Jules. By this cruel trick
they mean to crush him and reduce him to their
own sensual level. Even letters which Jules has
received from the supposed princess have been
written by these perversions of human beings —
who call themselves artists.
In her lovely innocence Phene is thrilled by
Jules' tenderness. Her intuition tells her that
something is wrong as she falters in rendering
the lines the cruel painters have given her to read
to Jules.
We see the blow fall upon the young dreamer as
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING 15
he makes the fearful discovery. In the agony of
his disappointment he is about to renounce Phene
forever as the artists, waiting outside to sneer at
him, expect. The poor, innocent being, in whom
his kindness and tenderness have stirred to Hfe
for the first time her womanly nature, is about to
be cast out to a life of degradation and misery,
when Pippa passes, singing. Her song awakens
Jules to a higher feeling, to a more human and
heroic determination; and the painters, waiting
outside, are disappointed.
In the evening Pippa passes Luigi, an Italian
patriot. He is meditating over the afflictions of
his country and upon a plan to help it, while his
mother is trying to dissuade him from the daring
undertaking. The police and spies are waiting
outside. If he goes he will not be arrested; if he
stays they have orders to arrest him at once. At
the moment of his wavering, when he is almost
ready to obey his mother, Pippa's song arouses
anew his patriotic being, and he resolutely goes
forth to do a true heroic deed for his country.
Thus Pippa saves him from imprisonment and
death.
Night brings the last scene in the dramatic
events of the world influenced by Pippa's songs.
A room of the " palace by the Dome," of which
Pippa seems to stand in so much awe, opens before
us. Here we look into the face of the Monsignor,
for whom she expressed reverence in the morning,
and we find that the Monsignor and the dead
brother whose home he comes to bless, are in
reality Pippa's own uncles. The poor little girl,
with only a nickname, is a child of an older
brother and the real heir to the Palace, though of
this she has never had the remotest dream.
16 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
We see an insinuating villain tempting the Mon-
signor to allow him to do away with Pippa in a
most horrible manner, and thus leave the Mon-
signor in sole possession of his brother's prop-
erty.
During an intense moment Pippa passes and her
singing outside causes her uncle to throttle the
villain and call for help.
Then we see, at the close of the day, the little
girl, unconscious of her share in the life of others,
come back to her room and fall asleep murmuring
her New Year's hymn which, in spite of appear-
ances, she still trusts. We are left with the hope
that she will awaken next day to realize who she
is and come into her own.
Thus journey we all through life often forgetting
that there is nothing small, that " there is no last
nor first." We are conscious of noble aims, but
oblivious of the real work we are doing and of our
own identity.
What, do you ask, has such a poetic drama to
do with such a commonplace subject as health
or the prolonging of life?
The question implies a misconception. Human
development is not a material thing but is poetic
and exalted. It has to do not merely with physical
conditions but primarily with spiritual ideals.
Let us observe more closely how Browning wakes
Pippa up. When she comes to consciousness she
utters a cry of joy and thanksgiving;
"Day!
Faster and more fast,
O'er night's brim, day boils at last."
The joyous thanksgiving of this first moment is
the key to Pippa's life and to her influence through
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING 17
the whole day. Such was the right beginning to
her day and such is the right beginning for us all
to every day of our lives. Her faith and her hymn
revealed the true ideals of this strange journey
we call life.
There is an old proverb : " Guard beginnings."
If a stream is poisoned at its head it will carry the
deadly taint through its whole course.
The most significant moment of life is the
moment of awakening.
The importance of morning has been more or
less realized in the instinct of the human heart in
every age.
Many of the myths of the early Greeks refer to
the miracle of the morning. Aurora mirrors to
us in a mystic way the significance of this hour to
the Greeks. Athene was born by the stroke of
the hammer of Hephaestus on the forehead of
Zeus, and thus the stroke of fire upon the sky be-
came the symbol or myth of all civilization. Even
Daphne, pursued by Apollo, and turned into a tree,
is doubtless the darkness fleeing before dawn
until the trees stand out clearly defined in the
morning light.
The dawn of day has always been considered a
prophecy of the time when all ignorance will
vanish before the light of truth.
When we remember that men of the early ages
had no other light but that of the sun, we can see
how naturally the coming of morning impressed
primitive peoples, and it is not much wonder that
they adored and worshiped the dawn and the
rising sun.
We still speak of the dawn of a new civilization.
Morning is still the most universal figure of
progress, the type of a new life. More than all
18 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
other natural occurrences it is used as a symbol of
something higher.
May we not, accordingly, discover that from a
psychological as well as a physiological point of
view, for reasons of health and development, morn-
ing is the most significant and important time of
the day!
No human being at the first moment of awaken-
ing is gloomy or angry. Everyone awakes in peace
with all the world. It is a time of freedom. A
moment later memory may bring to the mind some
scene or picture that leads to good or bad thought,
followed by emotion. This first moment of con-
sciousness is the critical and golden moment of
human life. How often has it been said to a child :
" You must have gotten out of the wrong side of
bed this morning.*'
Even animals and birds feel the significance of
morning. Who has not, at early dawn, heard a
robin or some other bird begin to sing — " at first
alone,*' as Thomas Hardy says, "as if sure that
morning has come, while all the others keep still a
moment as if equally sure that he is mistaken."
Soon, however, voice after voice takes up the song
until the whole woodland is ringing with joyous
tones. Who, in such an hour, has not been deeply
moved with the spirit and beauty of all life and the
harmony and deep significance of all of nature's
processes?
If we observe the awaking of birds and animals
more carefully, however, we find something be-
sides songs.
All the higher animals go through certain
exercises on first waking. There seems a
universal instinct which teaches that certain
stretches, expansions and deep breathings are
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING 19
necessary at this time. In fact, these actions are
so deeply implanted in the instinct of animals
that they seem a kind of sacred acceptance of life,
a species of thanksgiving for all that life brings.
If we accept " Pippa Passes " as a parable of
human life and Pippa as a typical human being,
may we not in her awakening find an example
of this universal instinct? May we not find her
first thoughts and feelings worthy of study and
her example one to be followed? Do we not, in
fact, find here a beautiful illustration of the proper
mode of meeting the sacredness of dawn?
As a matter of fact, how do we actually greet the
morning? Do we awake as Pippa did, with a
joyous song of praise? Do we pour out our hearts
in gratitude that it brings a new day, a new life?
Do we give thanks for the new opportunities given
us, the new possibilities of enjoyment, the new
share in the life of the world?
Usually we have no thought about these things.
Most of us entirely forget the significance of the
way or " the side we get out of bed."
Attention is rarely paid to the spirit in which we
awaken children. It is often by means of an angry
demand or an indulgent whine. They rise with
the impression that it is a sin to awaken them and
they begin the day with the feeling that the world
is cruel.
If we could spend the first few moments of
every morning as Pippa spent her first moments,
the character of the whole life would be deter-
mined. It is the most important time of every
day. Is it not also the time when we are most apt
to be tempted?
Has not man seemingly lost the significance of
this sacred hour? Why do so many, on waking up,
20 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
begin to worry over the difficulties of the day?
How many look back with regret to the preceding
day and forward with a frown to the one newly
born! Why not smile as Pippa smiled and meet
our blessings with thanksgiving?
There are certain physiological reasons why
people feel so sluggish on first awaking:— the
position in bed is cramped, the limbs are con-
tracted, the circulation is impeded and the
breathing is greatly hindered. When lying down,
all the functions of the vital organs are lessened.
Many people are entirely too careless regarding
the air of the room. It needs to be even purer and
fresher during one's hours of repose than in those
of waking.
Certain simple movements are taken by prac-
tically every animal on awaking under normal
conditions. Among these are yawning, deep
breathing, expansion and stretching. These exer-
cises form a part of the process of awaking. It is
the change from the position of lying down to that
of standing up. But we find that man rarely takes
these exercises. Between the moment of awaken-
ing and standing erect man possibly takes more
time, whines more and does less than any other
animal.
Of all the provisions of nature to meet this
crucial moment in animal life the stretch seems to
be most important. Why men neglect the stretch
is curious. Man seems to lack something of the
vigor of the animal instinct on awakening. He
lives a more rational life, and it is necessary for
him at this time to make certain decisions and
exert firmness and resolution.
Science has carefully explained the stretch, but
men seem to refuse to take the lesson. The
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING 21
stretch extends the body so that the veins, where
congestion is most Uable to take place and where
pressure of blood is weakest, are so elongated
that the blood flows more easily from the arteries,
where the pressure is strongest, through the
veins back to the heart and circulation is equalized
and stimulated.
The beneficial effects of the stretch can be
felt by anyone who will take the pains on waking
up in the morning to stretch easily, for a few
minutes, then rest a few moments and note the
effect. He will feel a great exhilaration all through
the body. He will feel a sense of harmony.
Thanksgiving seems to arise from every cell at
the fresh blood and life.
The yawn is similar to the stretch. The yawn
is a stretch of the lungs as the stretch is a yawn of
the muscles. Both of these exercises express a
hunger for oxygen. Whenever anyone is sitting
in a cramped position or even in one position for a
long time, the stretch or yawn is instinctive. The
extension of the muscles of the body as illus-
trated in the stretch is one of the most necessary
steps in normal adjustment. To speak of only
one point: when a man sits his knees are bent,
and the muscles in front of the leg are elongated
and the muscles back of the knee are shortened,
A stretch means simply the extension of these
shortened muscles.
All over the body we find a tendency to elongate
certain muscles too much. This is true in the
chest; true also of the face, at the corners of the
mouth. The active use of the too elongated
muscles will produce extension in those that are
too much shortened. By doing this we bring about
certain normal conditions and relations of parts.
22 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
Again we find that the stretch is activity of the
extensor muscles. It is the action of the extensor
muscles upon which health especially depends. At
any rate, the extensor muscles are much more
important to bring about the right relation of all
parts and the right balance of sensitive muscles
and the equalization of circulation than the
activity of the flexor muscles. Normal emotions,
as we shall find later, are expressed through
activity of the extensor muscles. Abnormal
emotions, such as anger, affect the flexor muscles
of the body more.
Since nature has provided the stretch seem-
ingly as the antidote for abnormal position, and
especially abnormal position during sleep, in
the programme of exercises it would seem most
necessary to centre around some careful and
scientific use of stretches.
Have you ever noticed a dog or cat wake up?
Observe their instinctive movements: the gradual
but vigorous stretch in every direction, the deep
breathing, the sympathetic extension and staying
of the limbs at the climax, then the gradual giving
up of the activity and the moment of restful satis-
faction.
Stretching in this way is one of the primitive
instincts in all animals. He who will observe the
animals will feel that the time for practicing the
exercises is on awakening, and the primary exer-
cise to be taken is the stretch.
How can we best occupy a part at least of the
half hour or more that is usually wasted in worry-
ing and fretting or in sluggish indifference, be-
tween the time when we first awake and the time
we begin to dress? With all the knowledge of
the human organism which has been revealed to
SIGNIFICANCE OF MORNING 23
US by modern science, with our truer understand-
ing of the nature of men, of the effect of the mind
upon the body, with our observation of the in-
stinctive actions of the animals at such an hour,
why can we not so occupy a few of these most
precious moments of the day as to add to our
vitality and enjoyment?
At this moment of awakening, when your mind
is free, you can so direct your attention as to re-
ceive joy instead of gloom, love instead of hate.
You can exclude the thought of evil or you can
yield and allow the tempter to desecrate your
shrine. Whichever choice you make, these first
moments of your day's living will color the whole
course of the coming hours. The feeling first
accepted and welcomed will more or less continue
and form a background to all your ideas and
determine your point of view toward human events.
The chief aim of this book is to present a simple
programme giving, not only some exercises for
this hour, but certain explanations which will
inspire a sense of the importance of this hour and
these movements.
Most people have no conception of the possibil-
ities of human nature, of the fact that progress
is the highest characteristic of a human being.
No matter how old we are, we can always begin
to climb upward ; the main thing is our willingness
to climb. Do we understand how to use the least
actions and the most neglected movements for
the development of character and the satisfactions
of life?
The principles and exercises advocated in this
book are not extravagant. Again and again their
benefits have been proven and many thereby have
doubled life's satisfactions and its length.
n
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH AND
LONG LIFE
Before laying down a simple programme which
will give one a common sense method of keeping
well, living long, and making the very most of life,
it may be well to study some of the innumerable
theories regarding long life.
If all the discussions upon health and long life,
from the earliest time to the present, could be
adequately chronicled they would form an interest-
ing, if not an amusing history. In many of these,
however, we should find the same serious thoughts
which we may well consider and find by com-
parison a few points in which all agree as to what
is necessary to health, happiness and length of
days. Note the theories that have been seriously
advocated and which have had vogue among
certain classes for a time, — such as the use of cold
water every day as a remedy for all diseases.
The cold water cure advocated wet sheet packs for
fevers, and water, in some form, for all ailments.
To live long some physicians have advised sleeping
on the right side, others have advocated the use of
raw food or food that has been cooked very
slightly. Some have contended that scientific
food is the complete food found in Nature, such
as nuts ; still others have advocated whole wheat
bread !
24
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 25
In our own time a method has been emphasized
which has been called " Fletcherizing." This, of
course, is taken from the name of the gentleman,
who has made it so illustrious by his books and
his discussions of the subject. Mr. Fletcher's
principle consists in holding or masticating the
food until it is in a fluid form; even a liquid must
be held in the mouth until it is of the same tem-
perature as that of the body.
Many consider that the chief advantage of
Fletcherizing is that it makes a person eat less.
This may be a part of the advantage.
I once had the honor of sitting at dinner by the
side of Mr. Fletcher and observed his methods.
He did not eat more than one-third of the amount,
for example, of ice-cream that the rest ate, but
he stopped when the others did, and said, with
a smile:— "I have had enough; what I have
eaten will give me more nourishment than a
larger amount would and it will not give me any
trouble."
There is great truth in some of these theories.
We should eat less meat and more grain. We
should not bolt the best food elements out of
wheat ; we should not bleach rice and take out its
nutritious element. Certainly, our lives are very
unscientific. Most men live merely by accident.
The shortness of life is not surprising to one who
understands how irrationally most of us live.
Others say, breathe deeply, naturally and con-
stantly.
Still others have urged active life out of doors or
an active participation in business. It is a well-
known fact that many men have not lived long
after retiring from their occupations.
Andrew Carnegie said recently that he attrib-
26 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
uted his long life, health and strength to his
activity. The story is told that he walked the floor
of his room with deep anxiety and consternation
the night after his offer was accepted to sell the
Carnegie Steel Works. He had not thought it
possible that his price would be accepted, and he
kept speaking to his old friend about the amount
of money paid and the greatness of the respon-
sibility. Fortunately he did not retire, as most
men do, but took an interest in every phase of
modern life. He has used his money, as a sacred
trust, according to his own best judgment, building
libraries and giving organs, pensioning teachers
who have given their lives for truth rather than
for making money, and has furthered many other
causes.
One of the most common opinions is that long
life depends upon " our constitution," —upon what
we receive from our ancestors. That is, long life
is a gift, not an attainment. And we are in the
habit of blaming our ancestors, near and remote,
for our lack of strength and vitality.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes once made the re-
mark that if one wished to live a long life he should
be afflicted with some incurable disease. This
was thought to be merely a joke, but it has founda-
tion in fact. Many men with poor constitutions
live to a very advanced age. They study them-
selves and live simply. They realize that they
are not strong and they do not indulge themselves,
but reach out for health and strength in all ways.
Among all the practices which men have adopted
through different ages for prolonging life we find
many which are universally believed, though
possibly not practiced. Some discussion of these
may give us courage and enable us to realize how
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 27
unscientifically, how carelessly, most men live,
and how indifferent we really are to our well-
being.
And yet we find wide-spread doubt as to the
advisability of being too fastidious. Some of the
extravagant ideas have naturally given rise to
such scepticism.
On hardly any subject have men had such
extreme views as they have regarding health or
the prolongation of their own lives.
I know one lady who ate a raw carrot every
morning because it was yellow, and, as yellow
is a spiritual color, this practice, it was advocated,
would free one from materiality and, consequently,
from all disease.
I have known others who condemned all atten-
tion to proper food, exercise, and even to expres-
sion, because such attention would lead to faith
in material means.
Webster said, " Truth is always congruous,
and agrees with itself ; every truth in the universe
agrees with every other truth in the universe;
whereas falsehoods not only disagree with truth
but usually quarrel among themselves."
In accordance with this principle as a rule the
untruthfulness of any view is seen in its failure
to recognize anything else as true.
No one will advocate any extreme and irrational
habit. Too much attention to food, too much
attention to the care of the body and exercise
will degrade even character. The morning exer-
cises which are here recommended should be
taken even as one washes his hands, as a matter
of course. Man is spiritual, and character is
developed spiritually, and mere attention to the
body does not secure health and strength.
28 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
There is a great and easily demonstrated truth
in the fact that people who believe in a spiritual
life have endured untold hardships and have
faced all kinds of conditions without injury. The
power of mind over body, of spirit over matter,
is too well attested to be doubted.
However, man is slow and progress must be
made gradually. The first step must be taken
before the last can be taken. Extravagant and
wrong views prevent a great many people from
doing anything.
If we examine all the rules for securing health
and the leading secrets of long life, we find that
one of the earliest is temperancfe.
A noted instance is Socrates. During the great
plague, when at least one-third of the population
of Athens died, Socrates went about with im-
punity. This was no doubt due to the cheerfulness
and temperance of his life. We know of his cheer-
fulness from accounts by Zenophon and Plato.
Possibly the most illustrious example, which has
been recounted of the preservation of health and
the prolonging of life through temperance, is
Luigi Cornaro, who was born in Venice in 1464.
After having, according to Gamba, wasted his
youth, his health was so broken and his habits
so fixed that " upon passing the age of thirty-five
he had nothing left to hope for but that he might
end in death the suffering of a worn-out life."
This man, by resolution and temperance,
battled with his perverted habits and became
strong and vigorous and happy, and lived to be
over one hundred years of age. " The good old
man," said Graziani, " feeling that he drew near
the end, did not look upon the great transit with
fear, but as though he were about to pass from
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 29
one house into another. He was seated in his
Httle bed — he used a small and very narrow one —
and, at its side, was his wife, Veronica, almost his
equal in years. In a clear and sonorous voice he
told me why he would be able to leave this life
with a valiant soul. . . . Feeling a little later the
failure of vital force, he exclaimed, * Glad and full
of hope will I go with you, my good God ! ' He
then composed himself; and having closed his
eyes, as though about to sleep, with a slight sigh,
he left us forever."
A new edition of Cornaro's discourses on the
temperate life, by William F. Butler of Milwaukee,
has recently been issued under the title of " The
Art of Living Long." The first of these discourses
was written at the age of eighty-three, the second
at eighty-six, the third at ninety-one, and the
fourth at ninety-five. His treatises have been
popular for all these centuries.
He held that the older a man grows the wiser he
becomes and the more he knows ; and if he will, by
temperance and regularity of life and exercise,
preserve his strength, his powers of enjoyment will
grow, as his own did, every year until the end.
" Men are, as a rule," says Cornaro, " very sen-
sual and intemperate, and wish to gratify their
appetites and give themselves up to the commis-
sion of innumerable disorders. When, seeing that
they cannot escape suffering the unavoidable con-
sequences of such intemperance as often as they
are guilty of it, they say — by way of excuse — that
it is preferable to live ten years less and to enjoy
life. They do not pause to consider what immense
importance ten years more of life, and especially
of healthy life, possess when we have reached
mature age, the time, indeed, at which men appear
30 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
to the best advantage in learning and virtue — two
things which can never reach their perfection ex-
cept with time. To mention nothing else at pres-
ent, I shall only say that, in literature and in the
sciences, the majority of the best and most cel-
ebrated works we possess were written when
their authors had attained ripe age, and during
these same ten latter years for which some men,
in order that they may gratify their appetites, say
they do not care."
We see not only in this passage but in many
other places evidence of the fact that Cornaro
lived a cheerful, contented life. The reform was
evidently not merely in his eating and drinking but
fully as much in the inner thought of his life. This
is shown in many passages from his discourses.
He says : " Although reason should convince
them that this is the case, yet these men refuse to
admit it, and pursue their usual life of disorder as
heretofore. Were they to act differently, aban-
doning their irregular habits and adopting orderly
and temperate ones, they would live to old age —
as I have — in good condition. Being, by the grace
of God, of so robust and perfect a constitution,
they would live until they reached the age of a
hundred and twenty, as history points out to us
that others — born, of course, with perfect consti-
tutions— ^have done, who led the temperate life.
" I am certain I, too, should live to that age
had it been my good fortune to receive a similar
blessing at my birth ; but, because I was born with
a poor constitution, I fear I shall not live much
beyond a hundred years."
According to the census of the United States not
one man in twenty thousand attains the age of one
hundred years. If we figure out carefully from
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 31
these statistics, we find the average is only about
one-third of this period of life.
One of the social customs is that we must eat
an extraordinary meal, — far more than we need,
as if life's enjoyment depended on the low sense
of taste, — as if every contract or matter of im-
portant business must have this as an introduc-
tion. Theoretically speaking, many people be-
lieve in low living and high thinking, but it is very
rare that we find one who practices it.
The two simple rules of Cornaro deserve our
attention: to eat only what he wanted, that is,
what he actually needed for the sustenance of his
body, and to eat only those things which really
agreed with him, that is, those which were really
helpful to the sustenance of his life. If we should
consider eating merely as a means and not an end,
Cornaro's idea that the normal age of a human
being was one hundred and twenty years would
not be such a wild dream.
Another almost universally recognized requisite
is exercise in the open air, or regular, systematic,
simple and vigorous activity of some kind.
The necessity of thoroughly pure air must be
emphasized from first to last. Some think that the
dullness felt by many people in the early morning
is due to the impure air of cities, and to the failure
to open windows. A lady once said to me, " When
I am in the country I always sleep out of doors.
Then I have not the slightest disinclination to get
up. I do it as naturally and as gladly as the an-
imals."
It is to be hoped that the rapid transit and the
automobile will enable people to live farther out
in the country, farther from air poisoned by smoke
and gases. Even in cities, however, one may have
32 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
open windows and greater circulation of air than
is common.
Some have gone so far as to place exercise over
against temperance in eating, saying that if you
take enough exercise you may eat and drink what
you please. While there is some truth in this
there is really no antagonism between them;
in fact, they are usually found together.
Another view almost universally advocated, is
to avoid drugs. The importance of this and its
union with right exercise have been dem^^nstrated
in the impressive language of fable.
" There is a story in the * Arabian Nights '
Tales ^" says Addison, ** of a king who had long
languished under an ill habit of body, and had
taken abundance of remedies to no purpose. At
length, says the fable, a physician cured him by
the following method: he took a hollow ball of
wood, and filled it with several drugs ; after which
he closed it up so carefully that nothing appeared.
He likewise took a mallet, and, after having hol-
lowed the handle and that part which strikes the
ball, he inclosed in them several drugs after the
same manner as in the ball itself. He then ordered
the sultan, who was his patient, to exercise him-
self early in the morning with these rightly pre-
pared instruments, till such time as he should
sweat; when, as the story goes, the virtue of the
medicaments perspiring through the wood, had so
good an influence on the sultan's constitution,
that they cured him of an indisposition which all
the compositions he had taken inwardly had not
been able to remove.
"This Eastern allegory is finely contrived to
show us how beneficial bodily labor is to health,
and that exercise is the most effectual physic."
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 33
Another illustration is furnished us by Sir
William Temple: —
" I know not," he says, " whether some des-
perate degrees of abstinence would not have the
same effect upon other men, as they had upon
Atticus; who, weary of his life as well as his
physicians by long and cruel pains of a dropsical
gout, and despairing of any cure, resolved by
degrees to starve himself to death; and went so
far, that the physicians found he had ended his
disease instead of his life."
Of all the methods advocated, possibly one of
the most universally recognized is joyousness, — a
hopeful attitude toward life, a cheerful, kindly re-
lationship with one's kind.
According to Galen, ^sculapius wrote comic
songs to promote circulation in his patients.
" A physician," says Hippocrates, " should have
a certain ready wit, for sadness hinders both the
well and the sick."
We know, too, that Apollo was not only the god
of music and poetry but also of medicine. The
poet, John Armstrong, has explained this :
" Music exalts each joy, allays each grief,
Expels disease, softens every pain;
And hence the wise of Ancient days adored
One power of physic, melody and song."
Sir Charles Clark, one of the greatest physicians
of modern times, exercised a most exhilarating
influence over his patients by his cheerfulness
and jollity. It was probably one of the chief means
of his wonderful success.
" Cheerfulness," says Sir John Byles, " is
eminently conducive to health both in body and
mind."
34 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
A recent writer says of Professor Charles Eliot
Norton that he was " not of a rugged constitution,
yet he did an enormous amount of work and lived
to a beautiful old age." This is attributed to the
fact that he was never " blue." The cheerful
kindliness of his face, his genial smile and kind
words were sources of great inspiration to me
when a teacher at Harvard, and to all who met him.
The more we investigate the theories of long
life the more do we become impressed with a
universal longing for a length of days. We find
a deep, underlying instinct " that men do not live
out half their days." Everywhere, too, we find a
certain expectation of " finding the fountain of
youth," a hope in some way to conquer sickness
and death.
This desire is normal and natural. It may,
sometime in future history, be realized.
As we examine these theories we find, however
wild they may seem at first, certain common sense
views at the heart of all of them. No one need
make a hobby of any one of them. Temperance,
regularity, repose, patience, and above all, cheer-
fulness, do not exclude each other, they rather
imply one another. In many instances one can
hardly be practiced without some of the others.
The practice of one would unconsciously bring up
the others.
If we study carefully these theories, and espe-
cially if we study the lives of those who have not
only professed theories but have faithfully prac-
ticed their principles and attained great health and
age, we always find a combination of various
methods.
There is no doubt, for example, that Cornaro
completely reformed his life.
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 35
The character of Socrates was the secret of his
good heahh. Temperance to the Greek did not
mean total abstinence. It meant lack of extrav-
agance; it meant what we mean by patience, by
an unruffled temper, — it meant the right use of all
the faculties and powers.
What new hobby, you may ask, is the theme of
this book? Nothing that will interfere with the
fundamental elements of the best ideas of all
ages. First of all it is advocated that we go down
deeper into all theories. Temperance should not
be applied merely to food and drink but must
cover self-control, repose of life, purity and depth
of thought, and a harmonious development of
human nature. The book tries to draw attention
to many important things which are usually over-
looked or not considered necessary to health and
life.
The study of expression, to choose only one
example, reveals to us, the necessity of a right
poise of the body. One of the leading teachers of
science in this country, after fighting tuberculosis
for three years, changing climates and using all
the help that science has provided, determined at
last to go back to his work and to do his best even
though he lost his life.
Making a constant and careful study of himself
he again began his life as a teacher. He met with
one with great knowledge of the human body, one
who had studied it from many points of view. He
was surprised when that expert said to him: —
" Your dieting will not do you much good, that is
not your trouble. You do not sit right nor stand
right, your chest is too low, it not only cramps your
breathing but what is still more important, it
cramps your stomach and all the other vital
36 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
organs.'* The scientist eagerly asked what he
could do to recover his strength, and he received
a few valuable suggestions, which he followed,
and in six months he was stronger than ever.
As a student and teacher of human expression
for nearly forty years, I have found most important
connections between man's mind, body and voice.
The right use of the voice is next to impossible un-
less a man stands properly. There are certain
inter-relations between the simple conditions and
actions of the body, and the conditions and the
true use of the voice are determined by the way
a man thinks and feels.
A man must not only have right feeling but must
express it. He cannot get right expression without
right thinking. Health, itself, is one of man's
mental and emotional conditions.
This book is an endeavor to study human un-
foldment from an all-sided observation of the
whole nature of man. Man is a unity, and an
endeavor to establish health from a mere mate-
rial point of view has always failed. Expression
is a study from a higher point of view. The
organism is studied from the point of view of its
mental function. Expression implies the sub-
ordination of the body to the actions of the mind.
This gives a truer point of view for an all-sided
human development.
It also implies a study of the especial significance
and use of certain primary acts of our lives: —
such as the way we wake up in the morning and
certain movements which are taken at that time
by animals and normal beings. The stretches,
yawnings and breathings, peculiar to that moment,
are never lost by animals, but human beings, with
their higher possibilities but greater power of
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 37
perversion, lose the significance and helpfulness
of this primarily instinctive movement.
The study of expression also reveals to us
that certain emotions are normal or positive and
develop health and strength, while certain other
emotions are negative and destructive of vitality
as well as of manhood. We also find that the
emotions we choose to express become our own
and, therefore, we should choose normal condi-
tions of mind and emotions, and express these
consciously and deliberately, especially at the
most negative time in the morning, when we first
wake up.
Expression is one of the necessary elements of
human development. We control emotions and
control their expression. We welcome noble
thoughts or noble feelings, and that which we wel-
come we become.
This book shows the smile, laughter, the taking
of breath and the simple stretch as most important
exercises which are to be regularly taken. It also
implies a deeper study into human co-ordinations ;
it tries to show a universal necessity of rhythm
and is an endeavor to establish the higher prin-
ciples of training in a way that makes them ap-
plicable to the most simple of human actions.
The student is requested to study himself, to
make a demonstration of every claim and of more
than is claimed. The exercises are so simple that
anyone can try and prove them, only let the trial
be one continued long enough to be a real test.
The moment you awake center attention upon a
pleasant thought or take an attitude of joy, thanks-
giving and love for all the world. Have courage
and confidence that all evils will vanish; express
some normal feelings at once by the expansion of
38 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
the chest, a deep full breath, an inward laugh or
chuckle and an increased harmonious stretch of
the whole body.
Everyone will be tempted to say that he cannot
control his thoughts. He may say he does not
wish to be a hypocrite and try to excuse himself
for brooding over gloomy thoughts or the fear that
he will not get through the day. Such lack of
courage, lack of faith, lack of thanks for the
beauties of life are sins which cannot be too
strongly condemned.
We can and must at once put ourselves in a
positive attitude of mind. We must begin our
day with a song, with a smile. We must look up-
ward, not downward. We must reject every dis-
cordant thought and accept accordant ones re-
garding the coming day. It is a new day which
brings new life, new joys, new duties, it may be
new trials, but these, instead of being accepted as
obstacles, may be turned into opportunities.
The indulgence of negative thoughts in the
morning may become a habit. A great battle may
have to be fought at first, but perseverance and
promptness can correct such evil tendencies. It
is at this time that the demon of regret and of dis-
appointment is apt to lay hold of us; the blackest
thought in our lives likely to meet us.
Observe that this was so of Pippa. Though she
awoke with joy, and is held up as an ideal, as she
goes on thinking the darkest shadow of her life
comes to her.
" If I only knew
What was my mother's face — my father, too!"
This thought, however, she puts out of her mind
by resolution, by turning, as we always should
turn at such an hour, to the Source.
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 39
** Nay, if you come to that, best love of all
Is God's; then why not have God's love befall
Myself as, in the palace by the Dome,
Monsignor? — who to-night will bless the home
Of his dead brother."
Here must begin the heroic endeavor to live.
Effort will be required for a time till the habit is
formed.
Instantly control the attention and express it by
action. Give a positive welcome to the day and
the light; express positive thanksgiving for the
thought that you have strength and that you have
the joy of work to do.
It is in the morning that we should begin to live
a new life, a simple life ; it is then that we should
eliminate all whines and abnormal desires and
open our hearts to receive the strength of a new
day.
Life, growth and development respond to joy.
Every flower seems to smile to meet the sun, and
the little bird sings in the midst of its duties.
Some scientists are hoping to discover the germ
of old age, and by destroying this to prolong life.
The real germ, however, of old age is found in the
doubt and worry which we allow to enter the holy
of holies of the heart at the holiest hour of the day.
If we guard the sacred shrine of thought and con-
sciousness from impure, unkind and discouraging
ideas at the moment of awaking it may be truly
said that the enjoyments of life as well as its
length will be doubled.
The primary acts that express this joy are:
first, expansion; second, taking a deep breath;
third, stretching of the body; fourth, a smile or
inward laugh.
Sometimes these take place so rapidly as to
40 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
seem to be simultaneous, but close examination
will reveal a sequence, though rapid.
As in life we have to live a truth to know or
understand it, so an act of expression embodies
the emotion.
True enjoyment is also always expansive.
Anger and negative emotions cause constrictions,
while joy and love increase expansion.
" As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
It is the mind that makes the man. When we
reject a negative thought and accept a positive
one we begin the real battle of life. Negative
emotion, every moment it is expressed becomes
stronger, and gradually takes complete possession
of us.
Prof. James says that everyone should do some-
thing disagreeable every day, but there is great
danger in accepting anything as disagreeable.
We must not only do something disagreeable,
but we must accept and do it as if it were an agree-
able thing. This is most important. The attitude
toward life makes all the difference.
Another great teacher has said, " When a wrong
thought comes in, say, Out of my house, you
don't belong here ! "
Remember that the field of consciousness is a
sacred shrine. From it banish everything that is
not full of joy and praise and comfort, that does
not give you strength and courage. Do as Pippa
did. Do not let the devil take possession, as he is
always ready to do at this time.
This battle must be fought at once. There must
be no delay. Idea will link itself to idea by the law
of association of ideas, and we shall soon form a
habit of negative thoughts in the morning.
The great point to note is that we should live
SUPPOSED SECRETS OF HEALTH 41
rational lives, that we should give our attention
and apply our own scientific knowledge and reason
to the everyday duties of life, and not disregard
the duty we owe to ourselves.
Men are continually doing something which
they know to be wrong. They indulge in thoughts
which they know will poison their minds and
characters. They eat food which they know is not
good for them. They pour into their stomachs
stimulants which they know will dull their higher
faculties and powers.
Some tell us that life is a continuous battle. It
may be looked at in that way, but if we look at
it from a more rational point of view it is a con-
tinual reaching up for higher enjoyment. Every
day and every hour we must be on our guard;
our theories must be a rule of life to be really
obeyed and lived. Therefore, to apply our own
knowledge to the restoration or maintenance of
life demands that we avoid that which is injurious,
and that we joyously, gladly accept that which is
helpful.
Life is a sacred gift, a privilege, and an opportu-
nity to be enjoyed, it is to be lifted up, and filled
with high experiences.
To accomplish all these ends, we should study
those moments when we are in greatest danger, —
those moments which are most important and
when we are best able to control our attention and
to command our feelings.
The one supreme hour is the hour of awakening.
If we can occupy a few minutes of this time in
right thoughts, and right movements scientifically
directed and as simple as those of the animals,
the effect will be astonishing.
To come down to a few specific things that every-
42 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
one should practice in order to be stronger, to be
more efficient, to enjoy more and to live longer,
let us summarize a few general points.
(1) Express joy first with laughter. If you can-
not laugh aloud, laugh with an inner chuckle. It
is not enough to have joy, it must be actively ex-
pressed to have an effect upon the organism.
(2) Maintaining the joy and laughter, express,
therefore, all harmonious extensions of the body,
that is, all simple stretches. Maintaining the
laughter and the extension of the body, expand
the chest and torso as much as possible.
(3) On waking up, take a thought of joy, of
courage, of love toward all mankind, toward the
day and its work.
(4) Maintaining all previous conditions, take a
full, deep breath.
(5) Set free with the simplest movements every
part of the body.
(6) Co-ordinate the parts of the body concerned
in everyday work, and sustain them with primary
and normal activities.
(7) Bring all the parts of the body into normal
rhythm by alternative activity of the parts and in
other ways.
To have good health we must rejoice, laugh,
extend, expand, breathe, co-ordinate the primary
parts of the body, act rhythmically, set free all the
parts of the body and all the primary activities of
function.
In short, this book tries to move everyone to
study the simplest things, the simplest actions, the
most normal duties of a human being, and to
assert these and to exercise them the very first
thing in the morning.
m
WHAT IS AN EXERCISE?
On account of the many misconceptions of the
nature of human development, will it not be
well, before beginning our program to consider
seriously —What is training? What are some of
its principles? What can we do with ourselves
by obeying nature's laws? Or, if these questions
are too serious, too difficult for a short answer,
should we not, at least, try to realize what is an
exercise?
To many persons, any kind of movement, any
jerk or chaotic action, is an exercise. They think
that the more effort put forth, the better. Thus
some teachers of voice contend that, to be an
exercise, there must be muscular effort in pro-
ducing tone. On the contrary, many movements
are injurious; unnecessary effort will defeat some
of the most important exercises.
The exercise must obey the laws of nature. It
must fulfill nature's intentions, stimulate nature's
processes, awaken normal, though slumbering ac-
tivity.
An exercise is of fundamental importance to all
human beings. Man comes into the world the
feeblest of all animals. He has the least power to
do anything for himself, but he comes with pos-
sibilities of higher love and union with his fellow-
men. He comes into the world with a greater
43
44 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
possibility of unfolding than any other created
being.
Accordingly an exercise is a means of progress,
a simple action which a man must use for his own
unfoldment.
An exercise is a conscious step toward an ideal.
Man is given the prophetic power to realize his
own possibilities. We can hardly imagine an
exercise independent of the conscious sense of the
highest and best attainments, of thereby making
ourselves stronger and in some way better.
This ideal is instinctive, even on the part of
animals, in fact, the animal instinctively regards
its own preservation, its own unfoldment and the
reaching of its ideal type.
A tree will cover up its wound and reach out its
branches freely, spontaneously in the direction
of the light and toward the attainment of its own
type.
With man the ideal is a matter of higher realiza-
tion. We have the lower instincts in common with
the animals but we have also something higher.
There is inborn in us a conception that man tran-
scends all present conditions.
An exercise is a step towards the attainment of
a chosen end.
Accordingly we have high exercises and low
exercises ; exercises on a mental and on a physical
plane; exercises that may train men down to an
abnormal type ; exercises also that are intellectual,
imaginative and spiritual.
Everywhere in nature there is a low and a high.
In animals of a high order of unfoldment there is
specific functioning of every part but in those
of a low order the functions are confused. The
organs are not so well differentiated.
WHAT IS AN EXERCISE? 45
Even in human beings, in the process of de-
generacy a man loses a greater variety of his
powers, and his very voice and body lose some of
those characteristics which belong to the ideal
member of the race.
A true exercise always brings sound and specific
parts into action. Part is differentiated from part.
All parts are made more flexible and more capable
of discharging a function distinct from all other
parts of the body. A true action of the hand cannot
be performed by the foot nor can a foot become a
hand except by a process of degeneracy.
An exercise implies a struggle upward over
against a drift downwards.
An exercise is an aspiration.
An exercise is a demonstration, it reveals a
man's best to himself. It is a process of translating
his dreams into reality. It is the only proof of
himself, his intuitive language.
An exercise is not physical but mental.
Never regard your exercises as merely physical.
The expression " physical training " is a misno-
mer. All training is the action of mind. It may
manifest itself in a physical direction, but training
itself, — the putting forth, — is mental. It is the
emotion we feel more than the movement that
accomplishes results.
No matter who laughs, consider your morning
exercises sacred to you. Make them a part of
your very life and habits, and put into them your
thought and the attitude of your mind toward your
fellow-beings.
You will be tempted to regard such movements
as merely mechanical and artificial. You will be
tempted to think they are just the ideas of some
crank. Put all this aside. Begin your exercises
46 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
joyously and happily, for the very pleasure of the
action.
Remember that you are not a body in which you
have a soul ; you are a soul and have a body. The
cause of everything, even of health, is in our minds.
Our awakening is not a physical matter.
There is no power in the material body to move
a finger. An exercise is bringing a mental action
into manifestation. However physical an action
may appear, its only significance is as an act of
mind.
An exercise is an expression.
It is an act of being, not of body ; it is activity of
being in action of body. There is no such thing as
physical expression.
Expression is not merely a reflex action. It
is the emanation of activity. It is the union of
thinking, feeling and willing.
An exercise implies that we can choose what we
are to express. It implies also that we can con-
sciously regulate, guide or accentuate our mental,
imaginative and emotional activities.
Here we find the importance also of expression
as an educational view. Repression and suppres-
sion may be injurious to health. Expression is
necessary even for the proper functioning of the
vital organs. Impression implies the conscious use
of an impulse. It implies the ability to share our
ideas, feelings or experiences with others.
An exercise is a means of turning an impulse in
a higher direction. It implies also the curbing of
abnormal impulses.
Exercise implies stimulation of normal func-
tioning. It is an endeavor, but one in accordance
with principle.
Thus, an exercise is an expression of an aspira-
WHAT IS AN EXERCISE? 47
tion. Exercise implies many things. It implies
that a man may be low down but that he can rise ;
it implies that if he begin early and work patiently
enough he can control, soon or late, his nature.
He can control the expression of his being and
every manifestation of life if he will only come
close enough to the fountain-head of thinking and
feeling. He must be willing to demonstrate on an
humble plane, and, while striving for the highest
ideal, take the simplest exercise as the first step
of the ladder.
An exercise localizes function. Every part of
the body, even every muscle has certain functions
to discharge. Awkward men use the wrong part
to perform a certain action; part interferes with
part. A true exercise will train each part to dis-
charge its own function and bring it into harmo-
nious co-ordination with other parts. It will
stimulate both growth and development but make
growth precede development.
While aspiration is universal it becomes con-
scious in a human being. We have definite ideals
and not only instincts for their attainment, but
we can adopt rational methods for their realiza-
tion. We have not only an instinctive conscious-
ness of what is normal but a deep intuition that we
can improve every power of our being, every agent
of our body and every tone of the voice.
A simple, a most commonplace action, when
done with aspiration becomes an exercise. In
fact, everything that man does is part of the train-
ing. A true list of exercises must reflect the spirit
of all life.
A normal man can distinguish between a wrong
and a right exercise, between that which will lift
him upward and that which will cause degeneracy.
48 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
When men give up to their lower appetites they
strengthen the downward impulses, but the mind
can be awakened and every little step will become
a demonstration of higher possibilities. An ex-
ercise is a demonstration to a man of his possibil-
ities.
Sometime the science of sciences will be that of
training and education.
All over the organic world we find tendencies
toward degeneracy or downward; and we find
everywhere aspirations or activities upward.
Every bird, every rose, every blade of grass
is trying to reach an ideal. This universal up-
ward tendency or process we call by some big words
which confuse our minds and obscure the facts.
An exercise is not only mental but emotional,
not only expressive of thought but of normal
emotion.
The wise doctor looks at his patient. He does
this not only to recognize the patient's condition
but to see how much courage he has, how much
joy, how gladly he accepts life.
An exercise demands accentuation of exten-
sion.
Muscles should have a certain normal length
and the power of relaxation to take a certain
length. On account of abnormal positions, such
as obtain during sleep, certain muscles become
unduly elongated and others too short. To restore
the balance of proper proportions those shortened
need extension and the elongated need shortening.
Accordingly the so-called extensor muscles of the
body need frequent action.
The effect of these stretches is to harmonize the
vital forces. When a man lies upon his bed, as
has been said, he breathes less, the circulation is
WHAT IS AN EXERCISE? 49
more or less impeded; hence, the dull feeling and
unwillingness to rise.
The stretch also equalizes the circulation. It
affects the veins where the pressure of blood is
weakest, where there is a more immediate indica-
tion of congestion, so that the bad blood flows
away, and the good blood from the arteries where
the pressure of blood is strong, flows in, and the
processes of life go on with more decision.
There is still another explanation why the stretch
is so important. It is primarily activity of the
extensor muscles and is vitally connected with all
true expansion. The flexor muscles on account
of the position in sitting and because of a lack of
expansive activity, often become too short. They
can be extended only by activity of the extensor
muscles. The stretch is the special and instinctive
action of the extensor muscles in response to a
distinctive demand for freedom of the organs, or
harmony of the whole myological mechanism. It
is also* as has been said, closely connected with
the circulation, and the activity of the vital
organs.
There is no more important exercise than
stretching. Its neglect is one of the strange
things in training. One who wishes to be stronger,
to have the normal possession of all his faculties,
powers and organs, can be initiated and secure the
result most rapidly, by the use of this simple and
elemental exercise.
An exercise is an act of expansion.
The action of man's body consists of expansion,
contraction and modulation, the latter being the
union of the other two.
True energy expresses itself primarily by ex-
pansion. Life expands and any increase of new
60 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
life and all positive emotions cause an increase of
expansive activity in the body.
The study of expansion reveals to us the fact
that expansion and contraction furnish the many
elements of all human action, but that expansion
is first, that expansion expresses joy, exhilaration,
animation in life, and that contraction, aside from
its co-ordination with expansion in causing control
in intensity, expresses antagonism, hate, anger,
pain. Accordingly this book assigns certain fun-
damental expansions, which everyone should prac-
tice and does practice if he obey his own deep
instincts.
Negative emotions, such as fear, despondency,
or antagonism, cause contraction and tend to con-
strict the vital organs.
It can, of course, be seen at once that expansion
is due to the activity of the extensor muscles. The
stretch is, in the main, an expansion. At any rate,
it is always associated, co-ordinated, when prop-
erly performed, with expansion.
Moreover, if we observe the action of animals
and all true spontaneous actions in a human being,
we observe that the activity of expansion begins in
the centre of the body. It is at this point that we
should initiate our expression. The actions in the
middle of the body are more conditional than those
in the feet, hands, or limbs, but the awakening of
conditions should precede modulation. A certain
activity of expansion and diffusion is the very basis
of all conditions.
All exercises should naturally begin with ex-
pansion. A true exercise means an increase of
activity. Moreover, not only does life expand,
but all positive emotions, such as joy, love,
courage, cause activity of the extensor muscles.
WHAT IS AN EXERCISE? 51
These emotions, as is universally known, improve
health.
If we observe the structure of the torso, we find
that the chest has no prop from below; that the
ribs are placed at an angle with the spine, sloping
downwards as low as forty-five degrees, while at
times they may be lifted seventy-five or eighty
degrees or more. The expansion of the chest lifts
the ribs.
If we study a skeleton, we see that it must be
suspended, that it cannot be propped up.
Man, accordingly, stands and walks primarily
on account of the active expansion of his whole
chest. He is the one animal that has levitation, as
will be shown later.
We find that under the ribs in the torso are all
the vital organs. The lungs, the heart, the stom-
ach, all these depend for their normal position, their
normal action upon the expansion of the chest.
When a man stands, the tendency for the chest
is to sag. There are no bones to elevate it. Man
has levitation as well as gravitation, and the ex-
pansion and elevation of the chest lie at the basis
of all good position in standing, sitting and also
walking.
There are certain co-ordinate curves, beautiful,
spiral, rhythmic, in a normal and healthy human
being. These curves depend upon this expansion
of the chest.
All the best gymnastic exercises centre in the
development of activity in the muscles concerned
in keeping the chest elevated and harmoniously
expanded.
When we study the expression of this part, we
find that it reveals energy and courage and all the
noble, positive emotions of a human being.
Rn?^TON UNIVERSITY
52 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
A passive chest expresses indifference, inactiv-
ity, fear, discouragement, a sense of weakness,
unwillingness to awake and rise up to meet emer-
gencies. A sunken chest, accordingly, is an in-
dication of a tendency to disease, simply because
it expresses a negative mental state or one favor-
able to the reception of abnormal conditions.
The expansion of the chest, on the contrary,
reveals that happy acceptance of life, that active,
energetic determination to control abnormal con-
ditions which will ward off all disease and elim-
inate all failure.
This expansion of the chest, as we can see, is
one of the most elemental actions of expansion of
the human being. We shall observe later that
this activity is directly concerned with erect
posture. All actions in a normal condition co-
operate or co-ordinate. This expansion frees the
respiratory muscles and all the vital organs, gives
man command of the elemental action of his body
as a whole ; that is, his erectness expresses higher
emotions and experiences.
An exercise implies co-ordination.
An organism exists only by virtue of certain
co-ordination of parts. Training improves and ex-
tends this co-ordination.
Co-ordination is the simultaneous union of many
different elements or actions in different parts of
the body.
An exercise is rhythmic.
When exercises are performed in obedience to
the law of rhythm, better results will follow.
Rhythm is a law of man's being. Action and re-
action imply a human being doing his little part
and then accepting the greater work out of the
heart of the universe. Action and reaction, activ-
WHAT IS AN EXERCISE? 53
ity and passivity, the giving and the receiving,
everything natural is rhythmic. Absence of rhythm
is death.
An exercise is simple.
The best exercise is the simplest in its move-
ments. It is not the spectacular actions of an
exercise that make it the best. As every exercise
is a struggle upward it must necessarily be an
emphasis of something elemental and normal.
Any movement is normal when it is part of the
discharge of an elemental or distinctive action of
any agent or part.
The difference between accidental and elemen-
tal needs more discussion. Working upon ac-
cidentals secures weak results, perverts and
interferes with free function. Working upon ele-
mental brings freedom, power.
IV
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES
As all training is a reaching upward towards an
ideal so an exercise is a single step and the first
exercise should be the most primary action. The
primary condition of all growth is a certain joyous
awakening, an expansive enjoyment of life.
Take a joyous thought and express it in active
laughter.
No matter how dull or weary you feel when you
first awake, joyously accept the new day. Use
the following exercises and actions as you would a
cold wet towel on your face or hands. Look on the
sunny side at once and laugh. We can possess a
feeling only by expressing it ; we enter into posses-
sion of the day only by using it.
It is easy to look at the light, easy to breathe,
easy to stretch, to expand, easy to remember some-
thing joyous, easy to smile and easy to laugh.
If your body feels weak and sluggish, and you
have great indifference to movement there is all the
more reason for promptness. If you will joyously
extend your arms, expand, breathe deeply and
laugh, you welcome life and joy and give them a
chance to take possession of your being and body
and you will soon feel courageous instead of
gloomy, strong instead of weak, rested instead of
weary.
None of these exercises require a great ex-
54
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 55
penditure of vitality. Performed, as many of them
are, lying down, however energetically you may
do them they will bring little or no weariness.
Though the exercises do not require much vitality
they should be practiced vigorously to accomplish
the best results.
1. PRIMARY EXPANSION AND EXTENSION
On waking, take a courageous, joy-
ous attitude of mind. Chuckling deeply,
actively expand the whole body, take a
deep breath and co-ordinate harmo-
niously as many parts as can be brought
into sympathetic activity. Stretch the
arms upward and the feet downward as
far as possible, and repeat at least twenty
times.
An old writer gave dilatation as one of the pri-
mary characteristics of life. A certain distention
of all parts of the body is the beginning of the
renewal of energy and a primary manifestation of
life. We must give room to the life forces, feel the
diffusion of energy into every part. The sense of
constriction, due to lying in a cramped position,
can be easily removed by this primary exercise.
The chief elements in this primary distention of
the body are found in the stretch and expansion
of the torso, in deeper, fuller breathing, in the
sense of diffusion of life, in greater satisfaction and
in laughter. These elements should be practiced
on waking up.
The stretch should be in the nature of an in-
dulgence, an instinctive longing on first awaking,
a longing in common with all animals. It ought
to be enjoyable and a help to sustain the laughter.
56 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
Count one for the active movement, or stretch,
two for the staying of the active conditions, three
for the gradual release of activity, and four for
complete relaxation.
The exercise, as most of the others, should be
repeated twenty to twenty-five times, counting
four for each of the preceding movements. This
will require eighty to one hundred counts. Each
of the four actions of the muscles should be care-
fully distinguished and accentuated.
Counting four in this way for an exercise and for
each of the first steps obeys the law of rhythm,
accentuates all the elemental actions of the mus-
cles and establishes primary conditions of health-
ful activity in all the vital organs.
The simultaneous elements or actions in this
first exercise are of such importance that it is v/ell
to practice each one separately, either before or
after the general exercise.
This distinct practice prevents the slighting of
any of these elemental conditions, restores har-
mony and stimulates normal functioning of all
organs. In fact, all these actions are really nec-
essary conditions and should be present as ele-
ments of all exercises.
The following exercises (2-5) are important, in-
dividual accentuations of the essential actions of
this general exercise, and the conditions of all
exercises.
The student should carefully study his tenden-
cies to omit or slight any one of these elements
and accentuate carefully not only every step sep-
arately, but observe with especial care the one
most needed.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 57
2. INITIATORY EXHILARATION
Sustaining the extension and full
breath, laugh heartily, with little or no
noise, chuckle to yourself persistently for
several minutes. Centre the laughter in
the breathing and the torso.
Joy and laughter must be considered the first
condition of all exercise. The reasons have been
explained. If you are still sceptical, observe and
experiment. Everything that is truly scientific
can be proved or in some way demonstrated. As
this is one of the basic principles of this book and
its companion volume, " The Smile,'' and as joy
and laughter are met as the first exercise of our
program, it may be well to summarize some of
the arguments :
Exercise in laughter sets free the vital organs
and brings all parts into harmonious, normal
activity, stimulates the circulation, quickens the
metabolism of the cells and causes elimination.
Each of these topics might receive many pages of
discussion.
You will be tempted to omit the practice of the
chuckle, but it should be especially emphasized.
It expresses and accentuates the permanent
possession of the joyous thought. No other ex-
ercise can so stimulate a right attitude toward
life, as well as restore the normal condition of the
vital organs.
It has also, as have all of these exercises, a
beneficial effect upon the voice. In fact, all good
exercises tend to improve the voice. This is one
of the most important tests of an exercise, — does
it affect easily, naturally and normally the vocal
organs?
68 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
3. HARMONIC EXPANSION
Sustaining laughter and extension,
sympathetically and joyously elevate
and expand the chest as far as possible.
Feel the breast bone separate farther from the
spine, easily and naturally as in the expression of
joyous courage.
Expand slowly, sustain the expansion, gradu-
ally release, then rest, that is to say, perform
the exercise in the same quadruple rhythm of
the harmonic extension.
In this exercise you should feel a deepening of
the chest chamber.
It is well at first, until you get the exercises cor-
rectly, to place one hand at the back, the other
on the chest, and in expanding to feel the two
hands separate.
This expansion should be sustained for several
seconds. The release should follow gradually.
There should be a repetition of the expansion;
you should feel a sympathetic activity all through
the chest and torso.
Sudden collapses should at all times be
avoided, and they should especially be avoided
in exercises of the chest and of the central
organs.
The free, expansive facility of the whole chest
is the measure of the health, strength, grace and
normal actions of a human being. It is of primary
importance.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 59
4. RESPIRATORY ACCENTUATION
Keeping the body extended, the chest
well expanded, take a deep, full breath,
hold it a moment and gradually release it,
then wait a second without greatly less-
ening the expansion of the chest
In this exercise be sure to accentuate the four
elemental parts of an exercise. Taking breath,
the active stay of the breath, the gradual release
and then the complete surrender of the direct
respiratory muscles: that is, accentuate the four
steps or elements as in most exercises and avoid
the temptation to jerk and to exaggerate minor
parts or actions. Constrictions, inharmonious and
unrhythmic jerks are always out of place in any
exercise. The best results can be obtained only
by observance of principles.
Do not force the breath out. Allow it to pass out
easily and normally. Increase the inspiration
rather than the expiration. The air will tend to
pass out too quickly, reserve it and allow it to pass
out steadily and regularly.
We find that the taking of breath is associated
with the result of expansion and vitally connected
with the conception of impressions and expression,
and so is a necessary part.
The expanding of the chest causes greater room
in the thoracic chamber and breath flows in nat-
urally. This exercise, however, implies that we
should consciously and deliberately accentuate
expansion and the taking of breath. It aids in the
realization of life and the diffusion of activity.
Man breathes over twenty-five thousand times
in twenty-four hours. He can get along very well
on two or three meals of food and six or eight
60 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
glasses of water, but with as low as fourteen
thousand breaths a day, he is flat on his back and
has hardly enough power to move hand or foot.
We live on air. This is one reason why the
expansion of the chest is so important. It gives
room for breath. In fact, in breathing we do not
suck breath into the lungs. Air presses fifteen
pounds to the square inch to get into the lungs.
Expansion is, therefore, the primary element in
breathing. We should, however, at times not
only expand fully but consciously draw in breath.
We can expand the chest while sustaining it and
drink breath into the very depths of our lungs.
Thus the exercise requires us to take as much
breath as possible, to retain it a moment, then
slowly give it up and at last to relax completely the
diaphragm, all the time sustaining the chest ex-
pansion. Preserve still the quadruple rhythm.
Of course the exercise can be done with dual
rhythm, and it will be helpful, but the accentuation
of all four of the primary actions will accomplish
more than double the beneficial results not only
for health but for the voice. It develops the
retental action of the breath. A true use of
the voice demands a full chest. This exercise
strengthens the muscles that reserve the breath
and support the tone.
The process of respiration is most directly nec-
essary to all the actions of the human organs. It
is an essential part of circulation. The breath we
take meets the blood. The blood is carried from
the heart through the lungs and back to the heart,
then out through every organ of the body and back
again to the heart. The whole circulation is a
mighty process by which the blood receives sus-
tenance, bears this to every organ of the body and
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 61
carries back the refuse which is oxidized and given
out by the lungs. The blood, according to the
earliest tradition, is the life.
All ancient writers on long life " regard the con-
trol of the breath as a fundamental sign." A per-
son with little control of his breathing is doomed
to a short life.
Nature has so constituted us that at the moment
of some excitement, or the reception of some im-
pression, or the instant we try to do something
unusual, we take a greater amount of breath. In
any exercise, always allow the breathing to act
freely. Observe that breathing is the initiatory
act or condition of all human effort. It is a sign
of the reception of an impression and is thus one
of the conditional acts of expression. Breathe
deeply and freely at all times. A deliberative
breathing exercise, such as the preceding, strength-
ens all the respiratory muscles and corrects
abnormal tendencies.
5. PRIMARY CO-ORDINATION IN LEVITATION
Simultaneously lift and expand the
summit of the chest as you actively ex-
tend the balls of the feet downwards.
The opposition between the lifting of the chest
and extending the balls of the feet takes place in
all good positions in standing and walking. This
exercise initiates or accentuates the co-ordination
of the muscles used in standing. It tends also to
harmonize and bring into unity all the conditions
so far attained, and gives practical application
to those parts of the body which are active all day,
in standing, walking and in sitting.
All exercises must be performed rhythmically.
62 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
There are many elements in rhythm, one is activ-
ity and passivity, and another is the alternation
of parts : — one limb is active and this helps alterna-
tion or rhythm.
6. HARMONIC AND RHYTHMIC EXTENSION
Lift the chest and extend the right foot
downward, then lift the chest with the
downward extension of the left foot,
rhythmically alternating from one to the
other. This is the first step in the devel-
opment of rhythm.
This alternation is still more akin to the action
of the body in standing and walking.
Allow the hip to extend outward on the same
side which is being extended.
Co-ordination, that is a simultaneous and sym-
pathetic union of many parts in one action or a
harmonious variation of a primary response in
many parts, is one of the primary characteristics
of the organism. It can be secured by a certain
feeling that the whole nature shares in the ex-
ercise, that the whole body responds to the whole
being of man. It is a direct expression of joy and
sympathy. In an involuntary performance there
is always less co-ordination than in a sympathetic
motion. These are feelings vitally necessary to
co-ordination and we must not only have and feel
them, we must express them in the body.
The alternation of exercises introduces rhythm,
which has been found to be one of the most fun-
damental elements in training. Rhythm consists
of proportion in time. This proportion is in alterna-
tion: alternation of activity and passivity, and in
alternation of one part with another, as in walking.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 63
Rhythm is the continuity of co-ordinations. Co-
ordinations cannot be properly preserved with-
out rhythm nor can there be rhythm without co-
ordinations.
The exercises 2 to 6 should all be included
in No. 1. They should also be individually prac-
ticed in order to accomplish the best results and
to avoid the omission of any of these primary
elements which should be present in and co-
ordinate every true exercise.
After being practiced individually, exercise
No. 1 should be practiced several times with a
greater co-ordinating union of all the elements.
The feeling of satisfaction and joy should be
realized at once.
7. CO-ORDINATION OF PRIMARY CONDITIONS
Repeat Exercise No. 1 ; stretch first the
right arm and also the leg, bend the left
arm and left leg and so on in alternation.
Preserve all the movements.
The difference between this exercise
and No. 1 is the stretching of each side in
alternation. The same elements should
be included.
8. PRIMARY CO-ORDINATE VOICE CONDITIONS
Sustaining all the foregoing conditions ;
extension, expansion and diffusion of
feeling, the retention of the breath and
the simultaneous openness and relaxation
of the throat, laugh low but heartily: —
ha ha, he he, etc.
The tone should be soft and pure. The softer
the better. If there is any danger of waking or
64 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
disturbing someone the exercise should not be
omitted but practiced softly.
Joy must not only be felt, it must be expressed.
This series of exercises is based upon the fact
that the greatest exercises are expressive move-
ments. The smile on the face and active laughter
should be used as direct exercises, not only for the
body but also for the voice.
This exercise implies some understanding of
the fundamental elements of vocal training. The
primary co-ordination of voice conditions, that is,
the sympathetic, harmonious and elastic reten-
tion of the breath causing the co-ordinate pas-
sivity at the throat has been explained in " Mind
and Voice.'' This was my discovery and the
mastery of it has helped thousands out of ministe-
rial sore throats and other abnormal conditions,
and, to my mind, is proved as a fundamental
principle. It is of the utmost importance that this
little exercise should be practiced in accordance
with the principle. The great point of the exercise
is the elastic, sympathetic retention of the greatest
possible amount of breath and the simultaneous
passivity and openness of the throat. The study
of laughter or the best possible tone anyone can
make will enable him to realize this deep but
simple principle.
The effect of this exercise is to centre the breath
and to harmonize the activities of the whole rnan.
The central organs should always be exercised
before the organs of the surface. The laughter
must be sincere, genuine, hearty and natural.
No one can imagine what wonderful effects can
be brought to the voice by such simple exercises
as these. The voice is an index, not only to mental
and emotional conditions but to health. The
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 65
voice cannot improve truly without improving
health.
We reserve breath and have a certain sym-
pathetic fullness due to retention of the breath in
the middle of the body. Simultaneously there is
an openness of the whole throat and tone passage.
All the organs of voice are thus brought into right
conditions. When this condition is violated there
is a misuse of the voice.
Vocal training consists in the use of such simple
exercises as will establish all these conditions
that have been mentioned, especially the last.
The conditions of voice must be co-ordinated, the
vocal organs must respond to thinking and feeling.
We cannot ignore, we must demonstrate on every
plane. Man is given the greatest opportunity for
progress. It is an opportunity he must take.
There is no growth, no advance without labor.
The labor may not be voluntary, it may not be
hard, but man has his work to do. It is a joyous
work. Man has an instinctive desire for right
exercise which will enable him to really unfold his
faculties and demonstrate his powers.
9. FREEDOM OF VITAL ORGANS
Lying as before, placing both hands
flat upon the stomach, keeping the body
extended and expanded, breathing full
and free, manipulate in a circular, triple
rhythm or backward and forward, in dual
rhythm, all the vital organs. The thumbs
may be placed up under the floating ribs.
This exercise is usually given first in Swedish
medical gymnastics. It is especially for the
stomach, though it has a vital action upon the
66 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
liver and other organs. Such manipulations are
beneficial to a dyspeptic or to one suffering from
congestion of the liver, or from constipation. It
is a very important exercise and stimulates all
the parts so that they will receive more benefit
from the following exercises.
When any particular part, such as the stomach
or liver, is found a little tender or sore, special
attention should be given to this spot.
10. FREEDOM OF THE TORSO
Preserving primary conditions, turn the
hips vigorously as far as possible one way
and then the other.
This gives a vigorous twist through the centre
of the body. It affects the stomach, liver and all
the vital organs, and if the chest is kept expanded
and a full breath is retained, it greatly affects the
diaphragm and action of the respiratory muscles.
These movements may be taken also with dual
and with quadruple rhythm. If done slowly and
steadily, in true rhythm and sequence, they will
accomplish surprising results, and bring about a
deep harmony. If there is congestion the exer-
cise should be performed twenty or twenty-five
times.
This exercise frees the torso and makes it
flexible. It strengthens the diaphragm and,
obeying one of the fundamental laws, exercises
the central muscles of the body.
Do not give sudden jerks or sudden collapses,
but steadily, definitely and vigorously pivot the hip.
In many people, there are tendencies to con-
gestion in the stomach, and in the neck and throat.
This rotary action tends to remove these constric-
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 67
tions and to develop a certain flexibility in the
whole torso.
11. FREEDOM OF NECK AND THROAT
Knead with both hands the whole
throat and neck, moving every part and
eliminating any soreness or stiffness.
The night gown should be unbuttoned and the
breast bare. The fingers should be used and also
the palm of the hand and the thumb so that every
part of the neck and throat shall be set free.
In most persons spots will be found that have
some tenderness or soreness, especially if there
is any cold or sore throat, and these parts should
receive careful attention and manipulation, which
should be continued until the soreness is removed.
Persevere until the whole throat feels perfectly
free and relaxed. It is often the case that some
gland is weak and can be strengthened by this
massage.
This exercise and that of the manipulation of the
stomach, as well as the exercises which follow,
have a wonderful effect upon the voice.
12. FREEDOM OF NECK AND HEAD
Pivot the head as far as possible to the
right and then as far as possible to the
left.
This exercise is also best practiced in quadruple
rhythm. The hands may be around the back of
the neck. Knead deeply and remove any conges-
tion.
The efficiency of this exercise may be increased
by placing the hands on the neck so that at the
68 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
moment of extreme pivot the hand may knead
the parts. This action of the hand increases the
effect and tends, in cases of congestion around
the throat or ears, to give great assistance towards
the eHmination of all abnormal conditions. The
other exercises for the manipulation of the throat
tend to correct catarrhal conditions.
13. ELEVATION AND EXTENSION OF LOWER LIMBS
Observing all the conditions, lift the
right foot, knee straight, as high as pos-
sible, then slowly release it, then lift the
left in the same way.
The movement should also be done in quadruple
rhythm. The lift should be slow, and there should
be a decided staying of the activity, and then a
very slow release; then complete rest.
The effect of this exercisers to accentuate fur-
ther the idea of rhythm; that is, it requires alter-
nate activity and passivity in sequence or a con-
tinuity of co-ordinations.
In performing this exercise almost an ache
may be felt at the back of the legs, especially at
the back of the knees. This is due to the fact that
these muscles become too short in sitting and
therefore need extension. This exercise gives
extension to these muscles. Similar aches will
always indicate a lack of extension and call for
special help and practice of the opposing muscles.
Of course, it can be seen that whenever parts
of the body, such as the knees, are kept bent, the
muscles at the front of the limb will grow too long
and those at the back of it, too short. Hence,
when a man stands up there is a tendency to
stand with the knee bent. Old men have a lack
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 69
of firm backward spring in the knee. It is the
aim of several of the exercises to cure this.
14. EXTENSION OF THE BACK
With the body well expanded, kept
straight, breathing free and full, lift the
hips bearing the weight upon the back
of the shoulders and the heel.
This exercise needs to be practiced with quad-
ruple rhythm slowly. It gives wonderful exercise
to the central muscles and organs of the torso.
15. ELEVATION OF LOWER LIMBS
With the body well extended and all
conditions sustained, lift both legs, knees
straight, hold, slowly release, then com-
pletely rest.
This exercise is the best help that can be given
for a hollow back. It also brings activity into all
the abdominal muscles. It will strengthen the
muscles concerned in the support of the voice.
If the chest is kept well expanded and the lungs
full of breath, the exercise will have a wonderful
effect upon the diaphragm and the respiratory
mechanism. It will strengthen and deepen the
breathing and make it more central and reposeful.
70 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
16. RHYTHMIC ALTERNATION IN EXTENSION
Combine the last two exercises and
give them in alternation. First, lift the
body, then rest, then lift both feet, then
the body, and so on.
This alternate movement will bring
great relief. The muscles are more or
less opposed; at any rate, the activity
concerned in each exercise will receive a
rest during the other action.
This, of course, uses rhythm as an aid. True,
natural rhythm is always helpful and should be
introduced whenever possible.
17. ROTARY ACTION OF THE FEET
With the heels resting upon the bed
carry the balls of the feet in the widest
possible circle.
This exercise may be omitted, but it is very
important for one who is lacking in freedom in the
feet or who suffers from cold feet. It also brings
into action the lower extremities and tends to
further equalize the circulation.
18. MOBILITY OF THE FACE
Rest a moment and feel a sense of sat-
isfaction and then smile and place both
hands upon the face, covering it as far as
possible and knead the muscles, so as to
eliminate every constriction and allow the
diffusion of the smile to go into every
part.
Do not laugh at this exercise but observe the
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 71
effect. This exercise, however, should be prac-
ticed in union with the smile.
Pay especial attention to any part of the face
where there are constrictions or tendencies to
constriction, and especially any part that may seem
to droop.
Where there has been a good deal of suffering
or whining, or both, certain parts of the face,
especially the corners of the mouth, are turned
downward. This habitual action causes the
muscles that lift the corners of the mouth to be-
come too long while the corresponding muscles
that draw the mouth down become abnormally
short. Kneading is, primarily, to give extension
to the muscles that have become too short, and
the laughter at the same time is to give exercise
to the muscles that have become too extended
or elongated.
All parts of the face will be brought into propor-
tion. Crows' feet will be eliminated and the
beauty and expression of the countenance greatly
increased. Where there seems to be no muscle
between the skin and bone, as sometimes in the
forehead, there must be manipulation, exercise
of the weak muscles.
In the case of the face we have to bring in so-
called secondary motions. We have to use the
hands in the way indicated to get any effect. Of
course, the effect will be temporary unless the dis-
position is changed. The mental and emotional
actions are always the primary cause, but fre-
quently the condition of the muscles has become
such that it will take a long time to effect a change.
The exercises, accordingly, are a wonderful
help.
If one-tenth of the power of this exercise to help
72 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
the countenance were realized, it would not be
neglected.
One of my students opened a room and secured
quite a following in facial massage by using these
exercises. Some cruder than this one were used,
though good results were accomplished. This
exercise, as here suggested, can be done by anyone
alone. If people use it who have constricted coun-
tenances, they should carefully emphasize the
smile. That has not been done and hence the
best results have not been secured.
The faithful practice of such an exercise and
especially the study of the significance of the smile
and the practice of laughter, in union with other
exercises for the stimulation of vitality, will work
wonders in the expressive mobility and beauty
of the countenance.
It is worth ten times all the cosmetics as a
beautifier. It would banish "Beauty Parlors."
It is not, however, for the restoration of beauty
of the countenance, but to bring blood into parts
that are not used. It has good effect upon catarrh,
headaches and neuralgia.
While resting the larger muscles of the body
these two important exercises may be introduced,
or they may be introduced as the last of the first
series, while lying on the back.
19. FREEDOM OF THE SCALP
Placing the hands upon the head move
the whole scalp freely and easily in all
directions.
This is really the only effective remedy for im-
perfection at the roots of the hair, falling hair, or
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 73
baldness. It will cause natural and rich growth
of hair.
It is well, also, to pull the hair. One specialist
gives this as the only remedy to prevent it from
falling out. Not only will such exercises improve
the hair by improving the circulation around the
roots, but it will make the muscles of these parts
more flexible.
20. EXTENSION AND FREEDOM OF THE VITAL
ORGANS
Turn over, face downward, with the
body well extended, bearing the weight
upon the toes and the elbows, with the
upper arm vertical, lift the hips and torso
till the body is extended in a straight line.
Be sure that the upper arms are vertical and the
fore-arms parallel with each other. Try to keep
the body as straight as possible and get the sense
of extension.
This may seem to be a severe exercise, but it
is not dangerous. In fact, more than any other
exercise it tends to correct abnormal conditions
in the central portions of the body. It allows the
vital organs to be suspended from another angle,
rests them, and tends to restore all to normal
conditions.
This exercise should be performed in quadruple
rhythm, steadily, and slowly. Attention should
be given to the complete rest at the climax. Prac-
tice it a few times at first until the strength is
sufficient to repeat it many times.
It is an unusually important exercise in case of
any constrictions. It strengthens also certain
muscles of the torso which are apt to be neglected.
74 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
This making a bridge of the body, supporting
it by the upper arms which should be vertical, and
the feet which should also be vertical, has a great
effect upon all the internal organs of the torso. It
affects any sort of displacement and any kind of
congestion. The exercises may be practiced
slowly, rising and then staying the activity for a
little while, and then allowing the body slowly to
descend.
Take a good rest as the exercise is rather
vigorous for some persons, especially those who
have any weakness through the torso. Those
whom the exercise taxes are they who especially
need it. It should be repeated several times.
21. PIVOTAL ELEVATION OF THE HEAD
Pivot the head as far as possible to
the right, and then lift it backward. Re-
lease and carry to the left, and lift it back-
ward as far as possible.
This exercise tends to strengthen the muscles
at the back of the neck. It helps the extension of
the chest, and strengthens those muscles which
hold the head erect,
22. ACTIVITY OF THE ROYAL MUSCLE
Lift the head as far back as possible,
then slowly draw the chin in lifting the
back of the head high.
This exercise develops what sculptors call the
royal muscle. This muscle is active, causes an
erect head and gives a certain dignity to the car-
riage of the body and is usually associated with
a properly expanded body.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 75
Of course, it alone is not sufficient for a dignified
carriage because there must be an expanded
chest and the whole body must be normally erect.
This muscle, however, plays an important part.
It is at the summit of the line of gravity and affects
not only the carriage of the head but has a sym-
pathetic effect on the chest. When it is strong
and vigorous it tends to make the whole body
erect and to bring into sympathetic co-ordination
all the muscles used in standing.
23. EXTENSION OF HIPS AND ABDOMEN
With the body well extended lift the
right foot, knee straight, as far backward
and upward as possible. Then release,
and lift the left foot in the same way.
This exercise should be used alternately and
given a good deal of activity. The heels may be
extended or stretched downward as they are
lifted. This will give greater extension to the
muscles at the back of the leg.
This exercise causes extension of certain mus-
cles which are kept short when sitting. It is also
beneficial for the back.
24. ROTATION OF RIGHT SHOULDER
Turn over to the left side. Vigorously
rotate the right shoulder, carrying it in as
wide a circle as possible.
This rotary action of the shoulders may be re-
peated several times in different positions of the
body.
The exercise is important for the freeing of the
whole torso. The shoulders of most people are
76 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
rather weak. They should be strong and vigorous
especially in brain workers because their action
tends to affect the circulation of the blood toward
the head. It has also an effect upon the summit of
the lungs and certain regions which need freedom.
The rotary action of the shoulders may be given
best when lying on the side. The action of the
shoulders, however, should not be neglected as
it brings a harmonious circulation in the region
of the throat. The exercise tends also to affect
the whole summit of the chest.
The active shoulder expresses animation and
ardor in passion. A good strong shoulder is also
an indication of vitality.
The circular and rotary action of the shoulders,
the feet, and the hips, is best performed with
triple rhythm, —first, upward and forward ; second,
backward; third, release. The release may be
quick and firm.
Triple rhythm has a very sympathetic and stim-
ulating effect. The run is more of a triple rhythm,
while the walk is dual. All forms of rhythm, all
of the metres should be introduced into the various
exercises.
25. ROTATION OF LEFT SHOULDER
Turn over to the right side, and rotate
the left shoulder in the same way.
Whenever an exercise is taken for one side it
should also be given for the other unless there is
special reason for remedying some condition of
one-sidedness.
Exercises for the centre of the body should
always be given the preference. There should be
as far as possible a series of exercises.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 77
Thus far, the exercises are all used lying down.
They may be taken in bed but, of course, it would
be better if the bed were firm and not too soft, not
too yielding and as level as possible. The ex-
ercises would often be more helpful if taken on the
hard floor.
It is better to sleep on a narrow cot as Cornaro
did. This prevents our doubling up the body and
contracting the vital organs. Everyone should
lie down to sleep tall, or long, and as expanded as
possible.
Another reason for sleeping on a cot is that there
are no hindrances to lifting the arms behind the
head in some of the first exercises. If we sleep on
a bed, when we exercise, the body should be placed
more or less across it so as to give more freedom
to the arms, or the arms may be stretched out
straight at the side although this is not so good.
26. ELEVATION OF CHEST AND BREATHING
Sit erect, as tall as possible. Expand
the chest fully, carry the arms forward,
then backward, gripping the hands almost
under the shoulders, chest out as far as
possible, taking a deep breath. Repeat
this rhythmically many times, sustaining
as far as possible the expansion of the
chest.
It will be observed that there will come naturally
a desire to sit up. It may be well before sitting
up to turn on the back and rest a moment and
feel the enjoyment of the actions that have been
in the body. If the exercises have been properly
practiced, there will be a sense of ease and satis-
faction.
78 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
27. PIVOTAL FLEXIBILITY OF CHEST
Sitting as erect as possible with actively
expanded chest, pivot the shoulders and
upper part of the torso as far as possible,
first to the right and then to the left.
This exercise may be performed to advantage
with quadruple rhythm.
This movement exercises almost the opposite
muscles from Exercise No. 10. It also has the
same beneficial results in the extension of the
chest, the removal of constrictions or interferences
with the diaphragm, and has a beneficial effect
also upon the stomach and all the vital organs.
It is an important exercise for strengthening
the muscles of breathing and deepening respira-
tion. It should be repeated many times.
28. EXTENSION OF MUSCLES OF THE BACK
Stand, stretch arms upward as far as
possible, then carry them in the widest
possible circle. Relax the back and all
parts of the body so that the fingers come
to the floor or near it. Then return and
carry the fingers as far back as possible.
This exercise brings extension into all the mus-
cles of the back. Frequently, it is the best possible
exercise to develop the chest since the extension
of a muscle also stimulates its right contraction.
The elbows and knees should be kept as straight
as possible in this exercise. The wide circle
should be made not only in coming down but in
going back forward and over backward.
This exercise causes great extension of the
muscles. The muscles from the heel all up the
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 79
back of the legs and even of the arms are affected.
Then in getting back the muscles of all the body
receive a similar extension.
This action is very helpful for the development
of erectness of the body. It also causes alterna-
tion of the muscles and has a good effect upon the
health.
29. EXTENSION OF MUSCLES AT THE SIDE
Standing erect carry the hip out over
the right foot, surrendering the whole
body to the left side. Allow the weight
to be carried out over the left foot, the
left hip being widely extended.
This exercise tends to get freedom for muscles
at the side and the hip so that the hip upon which
the person stands will naturally sway out to the
side, and the free hip will be surrendered, bringing
the body very naturally into its spiral curves.
30. CO-ORDINATION IN STANDING
Standing erect, expand the chest in
opposition to the balls of the feet, and
allow the body slowly to be lifted seem-
ingly from the summit of the chest up-
ward. Allow it to return very slowly and
steadily and to sink to the heels. Repeat
many times.
This exercise should also be practiced upon
each foot separately. It establishes right co-
ordinations of the body in standing and helps in
establishing accordant poise. All the muscles in
the body which tend to bring the summit of the
chest and the balls of the feet into right co-
80 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
ordination are brought into sympathetic activity.
It is really an important exercise for the develop-
ment of a correct bearing and posture of the body.
In going upward, be sure that the chest reaches
upward and that the body is lifted by a species
of levitation.
Keep the body as straight as possible from the
heel to the centre of the neck, preserving a sym-
pathetic expansion of the chest at all times.
This exercise acts upon the whole body, tending
to bring all parts into normal relationship.
31. EXTENSION OF CHEST
Placing your hands against the sides of
a narrow door way, allow your weight
to come forward upon the hands, the
knees straight. Take a full breath, then
carry the body back by action of the arms.
This presses the shoulders back and causes
expansion of the chest, and a deep breath should,
of course, be taken. The exercise should be re-
peated many times.
This exercise, as well as all others, should be
practiced where the air is pure.
Observe that this exercise can be made more
severe by placing the feet farther back from the
door so that the weight of the body will fall more
upon the hands. In this case the hands may
be lower. They should be placed slightly below
the shoulders.
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 81
32. HARMONY OF RESPIRATION AND CIRCULATION
Lift the arms as high as possible and
grasp a pole which has been placed so
that it can barely be grasped on tiptoe,
and let your weight rest upon the hands,
and endeavor to touch the floor with the
heels. One can easily have a pole placed
upon hooks as high as possible inside a
closet.
This exercise frees all the muscles of the back
and carries the blood away from the head. It is
an exercise especially recommended by Baron
Posse for brain workers.
After the exercises take a sponge bath, or if
preferred, rub the chest and throat vigorously
with a rough cloth with cold water. Some people
prefer an entire bath, but getting into very cold
water often has a bad effect upon the circulation
and breathing. The water should not be too cold
at first until one becomes accustomed to the
unusual stimulation. Rub till dry and warm.
Injury may follow if there is not reaction.
This program may be lengthened or short-
ened to suit individual needs. Many exercises
can be added by each one according to instinct.
Some, for example, those turning to the side, ex-
cept possibly the relaxing of the shoulders, may
be shortened. The exercises may be lengthened
also by practicing one a longer period of time,
making repetitions of a hundred or more. They
may be shortened, too, by giving each movement
a shorter period.
Each student must study himself and adapt
the exercises according to need. Feelings of en-
joyment, however, are not a safe guide. We are so
82 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
apt to let the dull and stupid feeling take posses-
sion in the morning and omit the exercises for the
day. It takes resolution to perform them but in
a few minutes the reward comes in a feeling of
satisfaction and rest. The exercises are usually
the best means of removing the feeling of dullness.
That, indeed, is one of their chief aims. Co-
ordinating the performance and the joyous attitude
of man will soon cause the exercises to be devel-
oped into a habit and one will feel the need of them
as much as he feels the need of food.
The exercises demand joy, expansion, exten-
sion, stretching, deep breathing, co-ordination of
various parts and the specific accentuation of the
movements and harmonious as well as rhythmic
alternation.
In general, a person can arrange from this
program, shorter ones of from five minutes to
thirty, according to individual needs.
The principles underlying the exercises should
be carefully considered. This will enable students
to remember more easily and more correctly to
practice the successive exercises.
Moreover, in the practice of the exercises, as
has been said, the aim should be always kept in
mind. Thus the simplest action may be turned
into the most important exercise by being prac-
ticed in accordance with principles and for a
specific aim.
To aid those who wish a shorter program, one
that will not take over ten minutes, the following
may serve as a helpful guide.
1. Combine all exercises from one to seven: —
laugh, expand the chest, breathe deeply, co-
ordinating the balls of the feet with the chest, and
stretch. Emphasize all of these exercises. It
PROGRAM OF EXERCISES 83
may be wise to count say six specific, successive
steps: 1, the expansion of the chest; 2, deep
breathing; 3, laughter; 4, stretch; 5, gradual re-
laxation; 6, complete release.
One should be sure that each of these elements
is practiced correctly. It is wise at first to in-
dividualize them until they are normal and then
such a combination becomes efficient and may
be in fact advisable as a step in progress.
2. Combine exercises nine and ten:— that is,
knead the stomach in combination with the pivot
of the hips.
3. Exercises eleven and twelve in a similar
way combine the kneading of the neck and throat
with the pivotal action of the head.
4. Sixteen may be practiced in a way to unite
fourteen and fifteen.
5. Eighteen and nineteen may be practiced as
one. The movements, however, should be sep-
arated and may be alternated by passing from
the face to the head.
6. Exercise twenty, as many others, should
always be practiced individually and separately.
7. Twenty may be combined, but not so well
with eleven and twelve.
8. All the sitting exercises may be omitted or
combined with the standing exercises taken before
the exercises on the pole.
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES
Since exercises are primarily mental it can be
seen that it is not merely the movement but the
mental and emotional attitude toward that move-
ment, in short, the conditions of its practice, upon
which the accomplishment of right results most
depend. An exercise performed with a feeling
of antagonism, gloom, or perfunctorily without
thought, will not accomplish nearly as much as
one practiced with sympathy and joy.
Only thinking and feeling will establish the co-
ordinations. Mere perfunctory performance of an
exercise or a mechanical use of the will may pro-
duce certain local effects, and in this way may
actually do harm, while the same exercise prac-
ticed with a feeling of joy and exhilaration will
bring into co-ordination various parts, and, in fact,
affect the whole organism. Practice the exercises
accordingly for the fun of the thing; laugh, feel a
joyous exultation.
Joyous normal emotion acts expansively. The
circulation is quickened and the vital organs are
stimulated to normal action. Without the awaken-
ing or enjoyment of life the vital forces show little
response.
If anyone will examine himself in a state of
anger he will feel that it is the lower part of his
nature that is dominating him. He can realize
84
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 85
that his muscles and vital organs are constricted
and cramped. Who has not felt a deep feeling of
bitterness, almost of poison, after a fit of anger?
Who has not felt a certain depression, at times
even of sickness, after antagonism or giving up to
despondency?
There is also a feeling above negative emotions
of certain dormant possibilities, certain affections
and a better nature in the background. In all
true exercises this sub-conscious, better self
should be the very centre of the endeavor.
So universally is true training and even the
nature of an exercise misunderstood that it may
be well to summarize a few points to secure in-
telligent practice.
1. Practice with your whole nature.
Do not regard the performance of movements
as a mere matter of will. Expression requires a
unity of the whole life of our being.
Regard an exercise as a means of bringing all
your powers into life and unity. Let practice be
a means of demonstrating your own abilities,
spontaneous and deliberative activities to your-
self.
2. Practice with an ideal in mind.
The accomplishment of an endeavor implies
the reaching or attainment of an ideal. Prac-
ticing with no end in view accomplishes nothing.
The goal must be an ideal.
There is a universal intuition in an ideal man.
There is an intuition deep in ourselves of our
higher possibilities. The feeling that better
things are possible inspires all human endeavor.
Movement merely for the sake of movement,
mere haphazard practice, without an ideal, accom-
plishes but little. We want not only an instinctive
86 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
ideal but we want one which is the result of thought
and study.
3. Practice hopefully and joyfully.
That is to say, there should not only be thought
and imagination in practice, there should be feel-
ing,— a normal and ideal emotion. The realiza-
tion of the possibility of attaining an ideal brings
joy, hope, courage and confidence.
4. In every exercise feel a sympathetic expan-
sion of the torso.
It is not only necessary to feel joy, we must ex-
press it, and the primary expression of joy is
expansion.
Expansion is needed not only as one of the ex-
ercises; it is more than this. It is a conditional
element of all exercise. From first to last, in every
movement, feel also a certain expansion of the
chest.
5. In every exercise feel exhilaration of the
breathing.
Increase of the activity of breathing in direct
co-ordination with expansion is a part of the ex-
pression, not only of joy but courage, resolution,
endeavor and all normal emotions.
Taking a full breath is given as one of the ex-
ercises, but here again we have a condition for all
exercises. This is the reason why we should give
attention to exalted emotion. It will diffuse
through the whole body causing expansion and
also quickening all the vital functions.
Respiration is the central function of the body.
All the vital operations depend upon it. Perfunc-
tory exercises which do not stimulate breathing are
useless and injurious.
6. Accentuate the extension of the muscles of
the body in all exercises possible.
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 87
The kneading of the face helps the parts as well
as being important in itself. If we rub the muscles
while whining we tend to confirm the condition in
the parts at the time. Thus we may develop
whines and frowns. It is very important, there-
fore, that there should be a cheery smile on the
face during the manipulation, if the looks are to
be improved by the exercise.
In kneading the stomach and the diaphragm if
we have a full chest, as in laughter, the manip-
ulation will produce a far better effect upon the
diaphragm than if we have little breath.
In practicing an exercise, therefore, it is not
only necessary to study which part most needs
development or which muscle is weak, but it is
just as necessary to notice which muscles need
extension.
7. Practice harmoniously.
We should exercise all parts of the body in a
similar way. If we exercise, for example, the
action of the feet it is well also to practice rotary
action of the arms, or at any rate, of the head.
We should see to it that when we practice one
part of the body the corresponding part of the
body should be equally exercised. We should not
give more exercise to one side or part, except when
there are congested conditions. We should not
give much more to the arms than to the legs un-
less we have to walk a great deal.
8. Practice in such a way that every movement
affects the central parts of the body.
Hence the program takes first the expansion
of the chest and breathing and chuckling, also
the transverse action of the torso. We should be
cautious about performing violent exercises with
the arms, or even with the feet, without simulta-
88 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
neous expansion of the torso because this is a
central action which is conditional to all proper
action of the limbs. Contraction of the torso
while working upon the limbs may draw vitality
from the vital organs.
Gymnasts, as a class, die early because they
are always performing feats. Other dangers are
found in the gymnasium, such as practicing ex-
ercises perfunctorily, using quick jerks and too
heavy and labored movements which affect only
the heavy muscles. The absence of rhythm and
co-ordination, the presence of too antagonistic
movements, the desire to make a show, too much
work upon the superficial muscles are also frequent
faults.
Another reason for the beginning of the day's
exercise with joy is the fact that the positive emo-
tions affect a man in the centre of his body. They
are all expressed by sympathy and right expansion
of the torso. This is not only central in expression,
it is also central in training.
The muscles affecting the more central organs
should in every exercise in some sense cause co-
ordinate actions in various parts. The expansive
action of the chest is one of the chief exercises be-
cause it not only frees the vital organs but co-
ordinates the normal actions of a man in standing
and walking.
Observe that harmony demands that all parts
be equally exercised, but unity demands that we
begin our exercises at the center. The organic
centrality of the whole body is of first impor-
tance.
We should not only feel expansion of the chest
in all exercises, but we should begin with exer-
cises for the torso rather than with exercises for
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 89
the limbs. We want to reach the deepest vital
organs as a part of all exercises.
Sometimes a man goes into a gymnasium and
works for the muscles of the arm, for example,
while the muscles of his chest and around his
stomach and diaphragm are weak. In this case
the central muscles may grow weaker. Exercises,
not properly centred, will decrease harmony.
I have found many people with lack of support
of the voice and weakness of the diaphragm and
the muscles relating to the retention of breath,
but I have found very strong muscles in the arms,
while the muscles in the center of the body were
surprisingly weak.
In following " external measurements " too
much attention is often given to the muscles of
the limbs that can be measured. It is easy to dis-
cover the fact that the lower limbs have more
muscular development than the arms, but this is
of little consequence compared with the weakness
of internal and hidden muscles like the diaphragm.
It cannot be too often emphasized that an
organism necessarily is one. The parts sym-
pathize with each other, and the higher the or-
ganism the more is this true. The voice expresses
the whole being and body, and it not only calls
for great activity of the central muscles, such as
the diaphragm, but every part of the body seems
to share in voice conditions.
A human being with his legs cut off can never
sing or speak as well as he could before he lost
them.
9. As far as possible, always feel in all the mus-
cles a sympathetic action with certain opposite
parts that support or naturally co-operate with
these.
90 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
Specific exercises must be directed to central
and harmonious effects. For example, expanding
the chest and extending the balls of the feet down-
ward as far as possible co-ordinates the parts that
are used in standing, though in a different way.
It gives extension to the parts; and to extend
muscles is often the best way to bring activity
into them.
Formerly a horse was fed in a high trough in
order to make him hold his head high, but no
horse carries his head so high or has such a beau-
tiful arch to the neck as the wild horse, that feeds
on the ground.
Weak muscles may often be improved by giving
them extension. This eliminates constrictions
and brings more rhythm or balanced activity in
opposition to other muscles or in union with them.
The co-ordination must be felt. When there
are co-ordinations there will be a sense of satis-
faction in the vital organs. The exercises will not
weary. They will not be a strain or tax the
strength. They accumulate vitality rather than
waste it.
Co-ordination must especially be studied and
used consciously and deliberatively with reference
to the chest. In the start of every exercise there
should be, as has been said before, something of
an increase of activity in the chest and the breath.
10. Practice all exercises as rhythmically as
possible.
Rhythm and co-ordination are the deepest
lessons of life and are necessary to each other.
Activity and passivity must alternate in proportion
as far as possible in all exercise.
Observe also that the active exertion of an
exercise should determine the amount of the re-
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 91
action. We should go as slowly in the recoil or
eccentric contraction as we do in the concentric
contraction.
Nature is always rhythmic. Notice the beating
of the heart, going on constantly for eighty or a
hundred years. It acts and then re-acts. Ob-
serve, too, the rhythm of the peristaltic action of
the stomach.
An exercise must obey this universal law of
nature.
Jerks should never be permitted ; but all be easy
and gradual. Even the surrender of a movement
should be gradual.
The eccentric action which results is more im-
portant in many cases than the concentric. For
example, in the diaphragm we make voice by an
eccentric action of the inspiratory muscles. We
take breath by a concentric action of the di-
aphragm, we give out breath in making voice by
eccentric contraction.
Rhythm, therefore, means primarily that there
should be a rest after each exercise. If we feel
very weary we should especially emphasize this
rest. It is lack of this rest that causes strain and
weariness and makes a person nervous. The
normal effect of the exercises when practiced
rhythmically, is to eliminate fatigue, correct ner-
vousness and weakness.
Rhythmic movements accomplish ten times
more than unrhythmic ones, even if unrhythmic
movements do not produce unhealthy and abnor-
mal results.
Observe that nature always responds to rhythm.
The body will respond to rhythm. Let the ex-
ercise be taken vigorously and definitely. Let also
the reactions or rests be equally definite and de-
92 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
cided. Vigor should never lead to constrictions or
to great labor.
If we lie on our back and stretch one side and
then the other it is easier and we accomplish better
results as a rule than we do by stretching both
arms and feet simultaneously.
It is hard to explain the sympathetic union of co-
ordination and rhythm. I have never found any
explanation or even reference to this. Even
Dalcroze, who has so many good ideas regarding
rhythm, has not grasped the principles of co-
ordination of different parts of the body and
especially the relation of co-ordination to rhythm.
Awkward people lack both co-ordination and
rhythm and the two are vitally connected. By
establishing co-ordinations we begin to establish
rhythm, and by establishing rhythm we help in
the co-ordinations.
The principle of rhythm applies to all our human
actions. We should walk rhythmically, and we
should stand allowing all the rhythmic curves of
the body to have their normal relationship. We
shall always have the right rhythmic curves if
we have the right centrality and co-ordinations.
One of the greatest effects of music is due to the
rhythm. All movements, however, have a rhythm
of their own.
11. Use in every exercise, as far as possible, all
the primary actions of the muscles.
We can distinguish four actions of the muscles.
First, active contraction, shortening of the mus-
cles sometimes called concentric contraction;
secondly, we can stay the tension of the muscles
at a certain point. This is called static contraction.
Third, we can allow the muscle gradually to release
its contraction, that is, allow it to slowly lengthen.
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 93
This is called eccentric contraction. Fourth, we
can take the will entirely out of a muscle and allow
its complete quiescence.
Rhythm demands the presence of all these ac-
tions; and also all these elements in proportion.
And in the practice of all exercises it is well to
accentuate all four of these elements by counting.
In the stretch for the whole body, for example, we
can extend the limbs slowly as far as possible, and
there will be a contraction of the extensor muscles.
Then we can stay the body when stretched to the
fullest extent. Then we can gradually release the
action of these muscles and then completely
rest.
Some of the exercises can be practiced with
dual movements, first with activity and then re-
lease, but by varying the climactic action for a
moment and gradually releasing, that is, by giving
these a quadruple rhythm, we can accomplish
better results than in the dual.
In dual rhythm we are apt to collapse suddenly
after a movement. In fact, it is harder to control
the release of the contraction of the muscles than
to control the gradual increase of their contraction.
This is illustrated in the difficulty of retaining
breath. Breath is normally retained by sustaining
the activity of the diaphragm, that is, its eccentric
contraction. However, the body needs occasion-
ally the complete surrender of muscles, but this
should not be too sudden or jerky. The gradual
surrender brings greater control and the higher
type of development.
When we use what are known as secondary
movements, that is, when we use the hands to
manipulate the stomach or when somebody else
rubs us, we should restfully and completely give
94 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
up the muscles and manipulate them or let them
be manipulated in a state of rest.
At times it may be well to manipulate a muscle
when at full tension. When there seems to be a
tendency to great constriction it may be well to
manipulate a muscle during both contraction and
relaxation and to test its relaxation. Again if a
muscle does not seem to act as far as possible the
opposing one may be found too short and may be
manipulated to allow greater extension.
12. Practice thoughtfully.
That is to say, study yourself. Observe your
needs. For example, stand against some per-
fectly straight post or door, with the heels and
back of the head against it. Where the back
curves most, there will be room for the hand.
Now where do you feel the most constriction?
Give attention to such parts.
Even when lying on your back, by stretching the
limbs and expanding the chest such wrong tend-
encies or faults in standing can be corrected. The
chest can be set free when it is constricted.
When it is carried too low you can directly sep-
arate the breast-bone from the spine. By sym-
pathetic expansions of the torso and by manip-
ulating with the hands the parts that are especially
constricted, curvatures, even in the back, can be
improved.
In all cases in practicing expansion we should be
careful that there is no increase in the curvature
of the spine. The back should remain normal, or
become more nearly normal if we find any perver-
sions.
A hollow back, as is well known, is more diffi-
cult to correct than a hollow chest, though both
of them are abnormal. A hollow back can best
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 95
be corrected by the lifting of the feet, and the
extension of the muscles of the back. If the hand
is placed under the back where there is the great-
est curvature there will be felt a normal action
upon this curve of the spine.
One point which has been discussed is whether
training can affect the bones, or only the muscles.
The whole body can be affected by training if the
right methods are used. In correcting something
like a hollow back, which has been of long dura-
tion, not only the balance of the muscles but the
very articulations and ligaments and even bones
may be affected by patient and persevering prac-
tice.
If there is congestion in the region of the throat,
the pivotal action of the head is important, but
the hands can be made to do a great deal of work
also during the pivotal actions. Such manip-
ulation is one of the best remedies for sore throat,
and also for dizziness, unless the dizziness is
caused by a wrong condition of the stomach or
liver, in which case the pivotal actions of the torso
should be vigorously performed, with kneading by
the hands, of the abdomen.
If one limb is weaker than its mate it should be
given more practice until balance is restored.
If there is any muscle weak in any part of the
body, we should find an exercise to strengthen it
harmoniously.
It can hardly be emphasized too often that the
central muscles should be stronger than the sur-
face muscles. Whenever we find, for example, a
weak diaphragm, we should use a greater number
of exercises for it and be careful not to give too
much attention to the arm muscles.
It is not mere strength to lift a heavy weight
96 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
that measures the degree of vitaHty or indicates
length of Hfe, but rather the harmony of all parts
working together. The muscles connected with
breathing should be stronger in proportion than
the superficial muscles of the arms or lower limbs.
People who perform one particular movement a
great deal, such as a blacksmith in hammering,
should study and use exercises for the parts that
are habitually neglected.
A little thought can correct every abnormal con-
dition, even stiff joints and headache. By prac-
ticing patiently such tendencies may be prac-
tically eliminated.
13. Practice progressively.
Exercises are often taken intemperately. The
student begins with enthusiasm, feels uncomfort-
able results from the extravagance, and then gives
up the exercises.
Begin carefully. Patiently practice the move-
ment at first ten or twenty times, counting four
with each step and accentuating the stretches, each
day increasing a little, and after a week or two
the results will be surprising. Let there be
regularity even in the increasing of the exercises.
We must take steps slowly, and gradually add
others until we have the number which the normal
condition of our system demands.
Study your own strength and the effects of the
exercises upon you.
There are many ways by which an exercise may
be made progressive. First, by gradually in-
creasing the vigor of the movement. For example,
lifting the feet from the bed, one foot may be lifted
at a time, which is easier, or both may be lifted
only a few inches at first. Second, the exercise
may be performed more slowly and more vigor-
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 97
ously. Third, by repeating the exercise a greater
number of times. Fourth, by the addition of a
greater number and variety of exercises.
Sometimes a person is lame from practice.
This is usually due to the breaking of small,
delicate fibres. These fibres may have grown
together by monotony of movement and by ex-
tending them suddenly or violently they may have
been wrenched apart too suddenly. Muscular
fibres should move freely. They will do so if we
practice gradually, but violent practice may strain
unused muscles and thus cause soreness. In gen-
eral, the actions of muscles should be as varied as
possible, but should be easily, progressively de-
veloped. Every successive day, exercises should
receive a little more vigor until normal conditions
are established.
Some kinds of exercises may be omitted at
first. We may leave out all the exercises sitting
or those lying on the side. A few of the standing
exercises may also be omitted.
You will be tempted, however, to omit too much
as a rule and then some special day to practice
too many. Even if you do get a little sore or lame
or feel a little as if you had overdone it is better
than under-doing, and nature will soon correct
the abnormal condition. The next time you prac-
tice the exercise you can eliminate the bad effects
of your former practice.
In all cases of sickness, or weakness from
any cause, special care must be given to gentle
stretches and manipulation. The movements
should be slow and steady. Do not leave your-
self in a state of pain but of enjoyment.
Remember that growth in nature is slow. The
stronger the organism, like the oak, the slower the
98 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
growth. A weed may grow almost in a night. Be
patient, therefore, do not worry, — be persevering
and regular in all the habits of life.
Some constitutions need more exercise than
others. Those who are growing fleshy need
quick, vigorous exercises, while those who are
growing thin and emaciated need slow, steady
ones, as do those who are nervous.
14. Establish periodicity.
All development in nature proceeds in a regular
and continuous sequence. There are certain al-
ternations and variations, but these take place
at specific periods.
The organism will adapt itself to regular periods.
Thus, if we take our meals regularly, we get
hungry at the same time every day. We should
go to bed at a regular hour ; at that time the system
demands rest and we become sleepy.
Parents are so anxious that their children have
a good time that they frequently cultivate ir^-egular
habits and thus lay the foundation of future failure.
Health is greatly dependent upon regular hours
for both work and recreation. Anything that inter-
feres with periodicity in the human body interferes
with vital functioning. Observe how regularly
we breathe. There is a normal respiration, cir-
culation, and beating of the heart which are prac-
tically the same for everyone. Any variation from
these regular rhythms is serious.
This principle of periodicity applies to exercises
as well as to anything else. Some men have the
habit of going to a gymnasium once a week. They
take the exercises one day and neglect them for
several days, then try to make up for lost time.
The exercises in such cases are not enjoyed.
They will be performed mechanically, if not per-
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 99
functorily: at any rate, satisfactory results will
not follow.
If we take exercises every day at about the
same time, say upon waking in the morning and
on going to bed at night, the system will come to
long for them just as the stomach craves food.
Nature does not grow a little one day and then
stop for a while ; she does not grow a limb on one
side and then another on the other side. All
growth is continuous.
Of course, this continuity is rhythmic. There is
a different action day and night, but this in itself is
a form of periodicity. In the same way we have
summer and winter. The tree feeds itself in
summer and during the winter the life remains
hidden at the root while the process of making
the texture firm proceeds with rhythmic alter-
nation.
All phases of life and growth are periodic. If,
for any reason, there is an unusually severe winter
the plants are killed. If there is a long period of
drought vegetation dies. A certain normal amount
of rain as of air, food, or soil is necessary to the
growth of the plant.
One reason for practicing in the early morning
is the fact that it will connect exercise with the
natural habits of the individual. The time of
waking up should be periodic and will be so if we
retire regularly. The practice of exercises on
first awakening or retiring will also tend to help
the normal time and amount of sleep. If we take
exercises on first waking, as suggested, we shall
awake about the same time and with greater en-
joyment.
The system will come to expand naturally;
every cell will leap like a dog that prances with
100 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
joy when it sees its master getting ready to go for
a walk.
15. Practice regularly.
Not only should the time be regular, the amount
of exercise also should be about the same each
day. We should not give a half hour or an hour
one day and neglect it entirely the next any more
than we should eat one extraordinary meal and
then go without anything to eat for two or three
days.
The same is true also regarding the kind of
exercise. It may be helpful to change some of the
exercises, but we should have exercises for all
parts of the body. If we substitute one exercise
for another we should take care to exercise all
the parts equally. We may change the kind of
food, but the degree of sustenance it contains
should not greatly vary.
16. Practice patiently.
Do not expect great results to come in a day,
though you ought to feel some effect very quickly,
yet it may take weeks, especially if there is any
unusual weakness or abnormal condition. The
slower and more varied the practice the better,
other things being equal, because conditions are
more important than the exercise and the normal
adjustment of the various parts of the body is
much more important than strengthening any
local part.
17. Practice slowly but decidedly and vigor-
ously.
The more slowly an exercise is practiced the
deeper the effect. The lifting of the feet very
slowly, for example, will have more effect upon
the diaphragm than if done quickly. The holding
of the chest high while lifting the feet slowly,
HOW TO PRACTICE THE EXERCISES 101
causes wonderful action of the diaphragm and
of the stomach and vital organs.
Slowness, however, does not mean hesitation,
indifference, nor laziness. Mere lazy, indifferent
practice will accomplish nothing. Let the move-
ments be done slowly but decidedly and definitely.
One should be careful if there is any particular
part that causes pain. We should bring in sec-
ondary or kneading movements, with the hands.
If the action is thoughtfully directed to the right
part, if it is truly rhythmic and sympathetic, abnor-
mal conditions will be removed.
18. Exercise as well as sleep in the purest air
possible.
Sleep with your windows open. Let the air
circulate across your room though not across your
bed. Let the air be as pure as that out of doors.
Perform your exercises in bed with your win-
dows open and with but little covering. The
vigorous exercises will bring greater warmth and
you will feel the desire to throw off the blanket.
Some of the exercises, of course, as lifting the
legs, cannot be performed so well without remov-
ing the covering.
The method of practicing the exercises as well
as the amount, number and character of them, de-
pends greatly upon the health and the vitality
of the individual, but there must be a continual
advance in the vigor and the number of the ex-
ercises.
VI
ACTIONS OF EVERYDAY LIFE
The benefit of exercises must be tested by the
help they give to the actions of every-day Hfe.
The human body must perform certain movements
which are continually necessary. These exercises
enable us to do these movements with more grace
and ease, with more pleasure to ourselves, with
greater saving of strength and vitality, and in a
way to give greater pleasure to others.
1. HOW TO STAND
" Man is the only animal," says Sir William Tur-
ner, " with a vertical spine." The bird stands upon
two feet but the spine is not vertical. Strictly
speaking no animal stands erect except man.
The primary aim of all true exercise for the
improvement of health and the prolonging of life
must affect the erectness of the human body and
the counterpoise curves of the spine. The axis
of the spine must be vertical.
Nearly all the exercises from the very first tend
to accomplish this result. The expansion of the
chest, the pivotal flexing of the torso, the lifting
of the feet, the stretching, the co-ordinate action
between the summit of the chest and the balls of
the feet, and the exercises in sitting and standing,
all tend to establish this most important condition.
There must be activity at the summit of the
102
ACTIONS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE 103
chest. The head and the chest are the first to
give up and sag. We can see that the skeleton
has no bones below the breast bone to support it.
The lower ribs are floating ribs and the other ribs
have an angle downward. Everything is arranged
with reference to the expansion of the chest.
This is the central activity in standing properly.
We can see, as has been shown, that man is
held up seemingly from above. Man comes into
stable equilibrium only when the body is sup-
ported from the summit of the chest. Levitation
opposes gravitation.
It will be observed that the first exercises con-
cern the expansion of the chest and when the ex-
ercises are properly performed, this expansion of
the chest is indirectly sustained through them all.
If we observe a person standing properly, we
find that a line dropped through the centre of the
ear will fall through the centre of the shoulder,
the centre of the hip, and the centre of the arch
of the foot. The things that cause bad positions
are: the chest inactive, the hips sinking forward,
the head hanging downward or lolling to the side,
the body sinking to the heel, and weak knees ; but
all of these seem to be corrected when the chest is
properly expanded and elevated.
To stand well, therefore, one should stand up-
right; the chest well expanded so as to bring all
parts into co-ordination and establish a true cen-
trality in the body. In a certain sense, there seems
to be an axis of the body by which it rests easily
upon one foot while the other leg and hip are per-
fectly free. The body is also perfectly free to
pivot and to pass the weight to the other foot.
The recommendation to " stand tall" is more or
less helpful, but there must be some qualification.
104 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
Stand tall, but not with rigidity or stiffness. The
body must be elastically and sympathetically tall,
and also sympathetically expanded, man must
stand as if held up from above rather than from
below, expanded and elevated by feeling and
thought rather than by mere will. The centrality,
ease and harmony of the poise are of more impor-
tance than the tallness.
When one stands properly on one foot a spiral
line from the top of the head to the foot is devel-
oped. The head inclines slightly toward the side
that bears the weight, the torso slightly inclines in
opposition and the active lower limb takes a slightly
opposite inclination. This line which has been
called the line of beauty is very common in nature.
It is found all over the human body.
When the face is animated with joy and gentle-
ness, such spiral curves appear in all directions.
The presence of this line is an element of a beau-
tiful face and of a graceful body.
The beneficial effects of such a poise are seen at
once. The breathing is free. When a person
stands in bad poise there is constriction of the
respiratory muscles so that he is uneasy, he
shifts from foot to foot. But when one stands in
stable equilibrium, he stands restfully, easily and
gracefully, and can move in any direction freely.
His body also becomes expressive and acts under
the dominion of feeling.
2. HOW TO WALK
The character of a person's position in standing
will determine the character of the walk. If one
has learned to stand in stable equilibrium he will
walk suggesting repose. If he stand in a dis-
cordant poise he will walk in a discordant chaotic
ACTIONS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE 105
way and will be continuously fighting to stand
up.
When a person stands in an accordant poise the
walk is a progression forward and a levitation up-
ward rhythmically and freely, the spiral lines
alternating with every step.
Every line of the body acts rhythmically. There
is not only rhythmical alternation of the lower
limbs and of the movements of the weight from
foot to foot but all the lines of the body alternate
rhythmically.
A good walk is the carrying out of a man's pur-
pose. Accordingly there is an attraction forward
and upward at the summit of the chest.
There are some abnormal walks where men
seem to be drawn by the head, some walk as if
drawn by the nose or chin, by the hips or by the
knees or even the feet. The gravitation of the
body forward toward the carrying out of one's
purpose should be from the centre of gravitation
and should be upward.
" Onward and upward, true to the line." Man
in his very w^alking seems to be a progressive
being. To climb a declivity, he seems to move
forward and upward. In a bad walk a man seems
drawn downward.
The poise of the body in standing and walking
is most affected by this series of exercises. The
co-ordination between the summit of the chest and
the feet in rhythmic alternation, the simultaneous
activity of the chest in all movements or ex-
ercises develop good positions in standing and
natural actions of the body in walking.
The extensions especially when in alternation
bring the body also into the normal spiral lines and
tend also to extend the muscles especially at the
106 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
side so that the shoulder does not seem to be
drawn down toward the hip, but acts with the
torso freely.
When exercises are practiced properly the whole
bearing of the body will begin to improve.
3. HOW TO SIT
Badly as people stand, they sit possibly worse.
Most people sit in the most unhealthful as well as
in the most ungraceful way. Generally there is a
complete " slumping " of the chest, the spine is
brought into a wide, single curve instead of its
counterpoise curves.
All the exercises from the very first, have a
bearing upon the establishment of the normal con-
ditions of the spine. If the exercises are well
practiced, especially the elevation and expansion
of the chest, the spine is strengthened and its
normally proportioned curves are established.
Bad positions in sitting are extremely common.
Book-keepers, editors, seamstresses and children
in school need careful attention. Special exercises
should be given, such as the " harmonious expan-
sion of the chest " in sitting and the use of the
arms to develop the uprightness of the torso.
Bad positions in sitting are often due to a false
sense of rest. Muscles not acting harmoniously
tend to completely collapse. Many people sit
without true rest, and are continually shifting their
position in a vain search for rest.
What is rest? The chief rest comes through the
alternation of activity and passivity, that is,
through rhythm. Passivity alternating with activ-
ity brings rest to the human heart and is the best
mode of rest. Rest also results from normal
functioning. A person can sit or stand in true
ACTIONS OF EVERY-DAY LIFE 107
poise, giving freedom to breathing, and be able
to rest much more truly than in an unnatural,
abnormal, collapsed condition.
This can be well illustrated by the fact that when
a person starts out to walk with the chest slumped,
the head hung down and with all the vital organs
cramped, he comes back more weary than rested.
In walking we should, as has been shown, keep
the chest well expanded, the body elevated, co-
ordinating all the normal relations of parts. If
we walk in this way it tends to rest rather than to
weary us.
Therefore stand sympathetically expanded and
easily tall. Walk in the same way and sit in the
same way. Let there be a certain exhilaration and
a sense of satisfaction.
4. HOW TO LIE DOWN
Dr. Lyman Beecher said that one should always
assume a horizontal posture in the middle of the
day. The heart, he said, had less difficult work
to pump the blood horizontally than vertically.
Henry Ward Beecher attributed his power to do
a great deal more work than ordinary men to this
habit of his life of always resting in the middle of
the day.
He justified his habit by quoting from his father,
using even his father's antique pronunciation of
" poster."
There is no doubt truth in this. To one very
active and who performs a great deal of work it
brings a variety of positions and greater rhythm.
It rests the vital organs. It brings a harmonious
repose and relation of parts.
Even in lying down, we find abnormal condi-
tions. Some men cramp and constrict themselves.
108 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
The chest is allowed to collapse and the whole
body tends to be drawn together. Grief or any
negative emotion of feeling or condition destruc-
tive to health tends to act in this way.
People, therefore, should lie down properly.
They should lie down, as has been said, sym-
pathetically and expansively long. They should
directly manifest courage rather than shrinking,
joy rather than sadness, with thankful animation
rather than in a despairing state of mind. By the
expression of joy and courage and peaceful repose
and with a deep sense of the acceptance and re-
alization of the good of life lying down will mean
more. Express this in the body by normal posi-
tion, by expansion, no matter what attitude the
body may occupy. Man, whether he chooses or
not, always expresses the state of his mind in the
action of his body. And by cultivating the right
mood and expressing the right feeling and so exer-
cising the parts of his body as to express nor-
mally and more adequately that mood, men will
develop not only health, strength and long life, but
will also develop a nobler and stronger personality
and more heroic and courageous endurance.
The exercises, accordingly, should be applied
to the simplest movements of every-day life. They
must not be taken as something separate from life,
but as an essential part of it, as necessary to life
as a smile is to the face.
vn
WORK AND PLAY
" Blessed," says Carlyle, " is the man who has
found his work. Let him seek no other blessing."
A man out of work is one of the saddest of all
sights. There possibly is a sadder one, the man
who has lost the power to play. The child in
whom the spirit of play has been crushed out is
saddest of all.
Work is natural. One who does not love to
work is greatly to be pitied. Fortunately, such
people are rare. When a man finds his work and
becomes actively occupied with it he is happy.
He, however, often overdoes it and the difficulty
is not to work but to play.
Usually it is thought that there is antagonism
between work and play. On the contrary, they
are more alike than most people think.
According to William Morris, " Art is the spirit
of play put into our work." The union of work and
play is absolutely necessary to human nature.
By work we generally mean something that
comes as a duty, something which we are com-
pelled to do or something which we must do from
necessity in order to win a livelihood.
Play is usually regarded as something that is
pure enjoyment and spontaneous. A recent car-
toon pictured a boy complaining because his mother
had asked him to carry a small rug up to the
109
110 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
top of the house, then portrayed the same boy,
after a ten-mile trudge, climbing a steep hill with
a load of golf sticks, the perspiration streaming
down his face, saying, " This is fine ! "
The same task may therefore be regarded as
work or play according to the point of view. The
difference is the degree of enjoyment, the attitude
or feeling toward the thing to be done.
We can control our attention, we can look
for interesting things in almost any effort. In
either work or play we require a rhythmic al-
ternation between enjoyment and resolute en-
deavor.
The principles advocated in this book and its
companion, " The Smile,'' should prepare a man
for the work and the play of life. Exercises taken
at any time should serve as a remedy for the
evil effects of hard work of any kind.
The exercises give the best preparation for
work and because many of them are taken lying
down they do not exhaust but accumulate energy.
They also stimulate and develop a harmony and
activity of man's whole being.
The shortest and best answer that can be made
to the question " How to work " is, to work
rhythmically. This is the way Nature works.
There is action and reaction.
The law of rhythm, which has already been
explained, must be obeyed in our every-day
tasks. It applies to every step we take.
One of the best results of these exercises is
that they develop a sense of rhythm.
There are many violations of rhythm. One is
continuing along one line too long. Work can be
so arranged as to be varied. We can work at
one thing several hours and then we can delib-
WORK AND PLAY 111
erately drop it until the next day and take up
some other phase of work.
Without rhythm, work becomes drudgery. A
more specific violation of rhythm is a failure to
relsix and to use force only when needed.
The greatest effect of force comes through ac-
tion and reaction. Sometimes a man uses un-
necessary parts and uses them continually. That,
of course, will cause weariness.
There are hundreds of questions regarding
such discussions in as many books in our day.
Mr. Nathaniel J. Fowler, Jr., in " The Boy," a
careful book which is a treasure house of in-
formation, has gathered answers to leading ques-
tions from two hundred and eighty-three prom-
inent men. Many of these, in fact, most of them,
advise a boy, when he is not satisfied with his
work and is pretty sure that he is not adapted to
it, to change his occupation.
It is a difficult point upon which to give advice,
but other things being equal, work should be
enjoyed. When not enjoyed there should be
a serious study of the man himself, a study of his
attitude toward life, a study of his possibilities,
a study of his opportunities, and also a study of
what he is best fitted for, and an endeavor to
find this.
It is surprising, however, how far men can
adapt themselves, even change their very nature
in accomplishing a work which is laid upon them
as a duty. One of the greatest artists of New
England took care of his brothers and sisters and
his father^s farm, at a crisis, and kept a little shed
outside the house where he painted at odd mo-
ments. He had an avocation as well as a vocation.
He gave up his trip to study in Europe as he wished
112 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
to study ; he did a vast amount of work which was
regarded by many as drudgery, and he was com-
pelled to study his art only at odd moments.
Despite all this, George Fuller became one of the
most illustrious and original of American artists.
Today his pictures are in all the leading museums,
and command a high price.
What is drudgery? Dr. James Freeman Clark
defined it as " work without imagination.'' Any-
thing can be made drudgery. A man can study
art, or sing, paint pictures, edit newspapers, or
write books and make his work drudgery. Drudg-
ery is working perfunctorily. It is work without
aspiration, work without an ideal.
No man can do anything well in life, without an
ideal. If a man undertakes a certain work he
must begin it by awakening and realizing the
importance of that work in the world's life. He
must form a definite ideal of the best possible
way of doing that work and of its relation to the
world.
In short, no man can accomplish anything in
a negative, indifferent attitude toward his work.
He must look upon it from the side of its im-
portance, the side of its beauty, the side that is
interesting to him, the side that shows its in-
fluence and helpfulness toward the world.
Play, to the little child— and also to the hard
working man — is more serious than work. When
work begins to be perfunctory, play is the only
remedy. In such a case a man is in a dangerous
rut and must adopt a new rhythm.
" All work, and no play, makes Jack," or any
other donkey, " a dull boy."
The first principle of play must be to obey our
higher impulses. To play means the ability to
WORK AND PLAY 113
change our occupation. It means the abihty to
obey other impulses than perfunctory ones.
Some men regard play as something low. On
the contrary, notwithstanding the " recapitula-
tion " theory, play should be a new aspiration, a
deeper assertion of freedom, a higher opportunity
for suppressed energies.
To play, certain feelings and conceptions of our
nature must be awakened. Play reveals char-
acter even more than work because it shows the
latent impulses of the man. Therefore, if in
college, in school, or in childhood, in playing with
companions, the right associations are brought to
bear, the right persons are received as mates,
then the very sympathy and contact with others
will cause higher aspirations, deeper enjoyments,
more spontaneous endeavor, and renewal of life.
Play is sub-conscious, it is giving way in some
sense, to instinct ; but it is deliberatively giving up.
It implies enjoyment but it does not necessarily
imply the gratification of low desire.
Something can be said in favor of athletics.
A story is told of a gentleman who visited his
nephew in a large private school. He went
around the athletic field and asked the trainers
about his relative. Then the uncle found the boy
in his room, digging. He said, " What are you
doing here? None of the trainers see anything of
you. What is the trouble? " The student an-
swered, " I have been sick and I have been
working hard to catch up." " Get out of this,"
replied the uncle, " I went to preparatory school
and to college to find friends, to get enjoyment, to
learn how to play, to come in contact with men.
That is the serious business of school and college."
There are some who consider this the very worst
114 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
of heresies. I used to think so myself; but con-
tact with students in colleges and universities has
enabled me at least to see the point of view of this
gentleman. Many times I have met men who
were not getting the most out of their college or
university course though you could not tell that
from their scholarship or so-called " standing."
They lacked the spirit of enjoyment, the power of
initiative. They lacked the power of sympathetic
touch with other men that makes greatly for suc-
cess in life.
To my mind there are some games which bring
no sympathetic touch among men. Mere games
are not always worthy of the name of play. They
become drudgery, and they cause certain con-
strictions. They fetter the whole life. They call
for perfect silence, call for the exercise of great
mechanical skill. Frequently we find men play-
ing games which are analogous, if not identical,
with their work. Games should be different from
work. They should bring sympathetic enjoyment.
They should bring exultation.
A noted physiologist sent by his government to
examine into the physical training of other coun-
tries visited a leading school in England and found
the pupils one morning, during the best hours of
the day, at play. Approaching one of the boys, he
asked for the principal, and was conducted very
politely to the master. The visitor was greatly
impressed by the boys. He asked the principal
why it was that his boys were playing during the
best part of the day. " Ah," said the principal,
" that is part of our method. We want the best
time in the day to be devoted to their outdoor
exercises and sports. We take the utmost care
that the boys shall come into the most sympathetic
WORK AND PLAY 115
spirit with each other, and anything that happens
wrong on the playground is to us fully as serious
as what happens in their studies."
There is a universal conception that play is not
serious. Children are allowed to do just as they
please. This is a mistake. Froebel has taught
the true spirit and importance of play. Some
people consider his explanations as being purely
speculative, if not insane; but the great majority
of those who have really studied child life agree
with him.
It is important what games the child is given.
The play must be enjoyed. It should awaken
creative energy. It should appeal to the imagina-
tion and feelings and not be a purely mechanical
exercise of will. It is absolutely necessary for the
unfoldment of character that the child come into
touch with other minds, and also into contact
with things.
Someone has summed up the whole principle
in a sentence: "Bring such objects before the
child as will stimulate spontaneous activity."
The objects may be animals, birds, leaves, flowers,
balls, sticks, anything which can awaken human
faculties or be turned into a tool.
Arts are given us rather for avocations, for our
enjoyment, as a test of our ability to appreciate
the different points of view. Each art, as I have
often tried to say, expresses something that no
other art can say, and he is a cultivated human
being who can read all the arts and enjoy them.
The aim of art is to guide our energies in higher
directions, and to stimulate our ideals. Art
develops attention and trains us to become in-
terested in a great variety of directions.
As a proof of this observe the great beauty of
116 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
nature. We are stirred to go out of doors, to go
into the woods and note the beautiful scene and
the music of the pines that calls us. Nature
everywhere seems at play, seems to invite men
to come out into her unlimited playground, the
playground of universal principles and fullness of
life.
The poet, Schiller, explained all art as being
derived from the play instinct. It has been said
that play is the overflow of life. Life, love, joy,
all noble ideals, must awaken spontaneity or they
will not grow. All parts of man's nature must
have expression and not be repressed. Play is
given to stimulate and to express the spontaneous
in us, to manifest emotion and imagination and a
sense of freedom. Freedom is a necessity of all
unfoldment. Even the flower must bloom spon-
taneously from the energy within. The sun that
calls forth the leaves on all the trees does so by
warming the roots in the tree and bringing the
gentle south winds which fan the waving branches
into activity and cause the unfolding buds to be
filled with spontaneous life.
The whole world is full of joy and love. It is
human ambition and jealousies that bring the
hindrances.
The rhythmic alternation and the necessary
relation of work and play to each other can be
seen in the very constitution of man. Play alone
may develop obedience to lower impulses; while
work alone tends to repress the higher aspirations
and spontaneous energies.
Even a man's health and strength as well as
success depend upon the rhythmic alternation of
work and play.
While reading over the copy for this book for
WORK AND PLAY 117
the last time, when in that agonizing state which
some writers know, undecided whether to throw
it into the fire or send it to the printers, I read at
the suggestion of a friend, Eleanor H. Porter's
little book, " Pollyanna." That simple, whole-
some story has given me courage. The funda-
mental lesson in it is that we should find always
something about which to be glad, no matter how
severe the trial or how disappointing the event.
Goethe gave as rules for a life of culture: —
" Every day see some beautiful picture, hear some
beautiful piece of music, read some beautiful
poem." These might develop culture in a narrow
sense, but to broaden and deepen our lives we
need every day to see something beautiful in
nature, and in the lives and characters of our
fellow beings.
Dr. Howard Crosby once remarked that by
giving ten minutes to the telegrams of the news-
papers any man should be able to keep in touch
with the life of mankind.
The Boy Scouts and the Campfire Girls are
emphasizing some important phases of education
and life which have been too often overlooked.
One of the Boy Scout rules implies that every
day a boy should perform some kindly act for
others.
The importance of a boy's stepping up to an
elderly lady looking for an electric car and giving
her assistance, or carrying a lot of bundles for
someone cannot be too highly emphasized. These
boys take no " tips." They are trained to serve
for the sake of the serving. These suggestions
and services awaken the higher nature of the boy
or girl. Such movements should be universally
supported.
118 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
One of the most important helps to the boys
should not be overlooked. In offering their serv-
ices they are led to express their best selves.
It is important that they should learn to approach
strangers with polite confidence and courage when
offering assistance.
I gave my seat once to a woman in a street car
and at first I felt a little resentful because not by
look or word did she express gratitude. As I
glanced at the woman, however, I saw that she
really desired to thank me but was embarrassed.
She did not know how to do so. How few are
taught the languages !
If the Boy Scouts and the Campfire Girls do
nothing else than to learn to express their willing-
ness to serve they have made a wonderful gain for
active, useful and successful lives.
Of course, the primary aim is the good deed,
but are not the kind tone, word and polite bow
fully as necessary? Are they not the entering
wedge and do they not appeal to the higher na-
ture in the same way that the thought of being of
service inspires the boy or girl?
While doing is the great thing, yet it is nec-
essary to say in union with doing. There is really
no antagonism between expression in kind looks,
tones or words, and acts. They are inseparably
connected.
These same principles apply also to the Campfire
Girls. They must not only be trained to do things
but trained to realize their own personalities and
to draw out the best in others. Then the actions
will begin to be more expressive of the real per-
sonality of the boy or the girl and the seeing, doing
and becoming will form an organic unity. Some-
one has said that the great law of education is.
WORK AND PLAY 119
first, to know; second, to do; third, to become.
The doing implies not only action, but expression.
Certainly we do not become what we know
till we do or express through word, tone and
action.
The most successful men in the world have cer-
tain principles to guide their every-day life. If
we could only smile instead of frown, when people
criticize or condemn us, how much more success-
ful would be our lives!
Every day we can discover something interesting
in our fellow-men.
We can learn to listen.
We should work when we work and play when
we play. We should not play in a half-hearted
way worrying about our work ; and when we work
we should do so with all our might.
We ought to have regular periods of rest; we
ought to avoid unpleasant topics in conversation.
Everyone should have a vocation as well as an
avocation.
May we not summarize all these suggestions
into a few statements which will enable us to co-
ordinate work and play, and aid us in our daily lives
to obey the principles that should govern us from
our first waking moments? Every Day:
1. Smile when tempted to frown; look for and
enjoy the best around you.
2. See, hear or read, that is, receive an impres-
sion from something beautiful in nature, art, music,
poetry, literature or your fellow-men.
3. Think, feel or realize something in the direc-
tion of your ideals and in some way unite your
dreams with your every-day work and play.
4. Express the best that is in you and awaken
others to express the best in them.
120 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
5. Serve some fellow-being by listening, by kind
word or deed.
6. Share in some of the great movements of
the race.
All these refer to an important point — that we
should be teachable and should receive right im-
pressions. This is of primary importance. Breath-
ing means the taking of breath. We should begin
the day with joyous and glad acceptance of life
and all that it brings. A spirit of thankfulness and
acceptance is the true spirit of life.
We, however, need active expression. As
breathing implies not only taking breath but
giving it out, so impression and expression are
necessary elements of the rhythm of life.
Hence even these six things are incomplete.
We should also exercise our higher faculties and
powers, especially those we are not habitually
using in our work. Our whole nature should be
active if we are truly to live. Our higher faculties
should not be regarded as concerned only in mere
dreaming. Our ideals should be connected with
our daily work and contact with mankind if we are
to cease drudging or working without imagination.
Accordingly by word, thought or act, we should
express every day the best that is in us. More-
over, fully as important as these, we should every
day come into sympathetic touch with our fellow-
beings and call forth the best in them.
Expression implies a neighbor, — some other
being with whom we can communicate. Do not
think for a moment that such expression is empty.
Of course, we must go on and endeavor every day
to serve someone by a kind act, but a kind word
must not be despised. How many hearts are
over burdened because they lack a sympathetic lis-
WORK AND PLAY 121
tener! To be a polite listener is one of the beau-
tiful things in human life. Remember, also, that
many who have seen an opportunity and desired
to do a kind act have failed from inability to ex-
press the wish by word, smile or bow.
Expression is not separate from impression.
We must receive our impressions from every
source, then we must express to others the best
that is in us and become such sympathetic lis-
teners that others will unfold the best in them-
selves and thus come into that plane where we
can sympathetically participate in the lives of
others.
vm
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP
Anyone who wishes for improvement in health,
strength, grace, ease, or vitality, or, in fact, in any-
thing, must realize especially the significance of the
law of rhythm.
Rhythm is a law of the whole universe. The
music of the spheres is no fable. Observe, too,
the rhythm of the seasons. Everywhere there is
a co-ordination of the finite and the infinite, the
individual and the universal, — a unity of forces
acting in a sequence of natural co-ordinations.
Of all the illustrations of rhythm one of the most
important is the alternation of day and night.
Every plant awakes and rejoices with the sun and
it recognizes the sunset and goes to sleep as the
darkness comes. The few exceptions only prove
the rule, and even these simply reverse day and
night and are equally rhythmic.
The value of day and night to man is well known.
When there is a continuous work to be done it has
been proven scientifically that those who work at
night cannot accomplish so much as those who
work by day. The very same man cannot do the
same amount and grade of work in a night that
he can do in a day.
The human system is built up by various rhythms
like that of day and night. There is a natural
call for rest, for recuperation and the surrender-
122
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP 123
ing of all our voluntary energies that the sponta-
neous activities may have their turn.
The Psalmist, after he has gone all over the
beauties of the world exclaims, " Man goeth forth
unto his work and to his labor until the evening."
Here he pauses, for the beauties of the evening
seem to awe him for a moment into silence, and
then he breaks forth into a universal paean of
praise: " O, Lord, how manifold are thy works! in
wisdom hast thou made them all."
Night is a part of the normal rhythm of nature.
Every plant and every bird welcomes night as
well as morning.
Serious and abnormal, indeed, is the state of one
who cannot sleep. Next to the importance of a
right awakening in the morning is the peaceful,
restful retirement at night.
Edison boasts of how little sleep he needs, and
claims that sometime man will cease to sleep.
He says that sleep is only a habit.
As a matter of fact, by working rhythmically
through all the hours of the day, by obeying the
law of rhythm at all times, a man may possibly
need less sleep, but the repose of unconsciousness
seems a part of the Creator's economy.
" He giveth His beloved sleep."
By living in obedience to the law of rhythm and
especially by taking some rhythmic exercises be-
fore lying down, we can sleep better.
Almost innumerable are the suggestions, rules,
or recipes on how to go to sleep.
One says, " Keep counting until you fall asleep."
Another says, " Watch a flock of sheep jump-
ing over a fence, counting each one as it
jumps."
A third says, " Watch a bird sailing around in
124 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
the sky. Keep the mind upon it and watch it as
it steadily sails until you are asleep."
Someone says, " Repeat the Twenty-third
Psalm over and over, the more rhythmic, the
better."
Another says, "Think of the sky. Keep the
mind upon its expanse."
Still another, " Think of the Infinite and Eternal
Source of the universe."
Among all these suggestions we can find some
truth. Nearly all of them imply concentration of
the mind. If attention can be focused and held
at a point, the excited activity of thinking may be
stopped and the body consequently brought into
a state of acquiescence. They succeed, if they
do succeed, because attention is turned from
worries to something besides the antagonism,
excitements and duties of the day.
Another element in the suggestions is their
regularity. Watching the sheep jump over a
fence and counting one at a time, for example,
affects the breathing and all the vital forces of the
body. This causes rhythmic co-ordination of all
the elements and the unity of this will, of course,
bring sleep. The sense of harmony and rhythm
and self-control should be gained ; all antagonistic,
chaotic and exciting thoughts and all worry should
be eliminated as far as possible before lying down.
When we lie down, we should turn our attention
away from the excitements of the world to some-
thing calm and reposeful.
Accordingly there is nothing better than to re-
peat some of the exercises of the morning. These
stretchings, practiced slowly and rhythmically,
will equalize the circulation, the taking of deep
breaths, very rhythmically, will tend to restore
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP 125
respiratory action and the other exercises will
tend to eliminate constriction from local parts.
Observe the necessity once more of harmonious
thought and positive emotion, for here again there
will be a temptation to dwell upon the failures of
the day. It is so hard to forget some unkind word,
some failure on our part to grasp a situation at the
right time. We can easily remember the wrong
word we ourselves spoke and deeply regret our
failure to enter into sympathetic touch with
someone.
In such an excited frame of mind, with the
nerves wrought up at, the thought of the day's
work and with all these discordant pictures
thronging into our consciousness, sleep becomes
impossible.
Sometimes one is too weary to go to sleep, or
sinks into a deep slumber which is not normal.
The taking of breath is short and the giving up
of the breath more sudden. This sleep will not
be refreshing. Nine times out of ten such a one
will wake up in the morning feeling more weary
than when he lay down at night. Of course, if a
man could sleep for an unusual number of hours,
nature might in time restore him. The excitement
of our civilization prevents normal conditions and
therefore we must aid nature. Man must under-
stand the laws of life and so use them as to find
rest properly.
We need harmony in our thoughts, to let them
dwell on what is sacred and beautiful that our
sleep may be normal and that we may enter into
the world of slumber with sympathetic conditions.
We must, also, laughingly throw off negative
thoughts and feelings and allow expansion and
stretching to equalize the circulation. All the vital
126 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
functions must be harmonized. As we perform
these exercises once more we find various con-
gestions that have resulted from the onesidedness
of our day's work, — congestions around the throat,
parts of the body are weary, constricted, and
cramped. By stretching ourselves we can har-
moniously adjust the activities of our breathing
and circulation. All parts can be restored to
harmony and we can rest properly.
After all, what is rest? It is not a mere slumping
into inactivity. It is allowing the involuntary
rhythm of our being, the sympathetic co-ordination
of all the forces of our body to act normally. The
rhythm of our volitional activities must be given
up to the rhythm of the unconscious and invol-
untary life.
Before this rhythm can reign we must remove all
constrictions from any part of the body.
After taking these exercises we should feel the
sympathetic enjoyment of all the cells of our
bodies, then sleep will be refreshing, the rhythm
of breathing will be normal and the circulation
and vital processes will proceed easily and rhyth-
mically.
What are the differences in the practicing of
exercises in the morning and evening?
In the first place the exercises in the evening
should be more steady, more regular, more harmo-
nious, slower and more rhythmic. Every exercise
must soothe the excited nerves, the agitated brain,
and the weary respiratory muscles, the heart, and
all the circulatory system.
Release needs to be especially emphasized.
After every stretch, for example, every part of the
body must be relaxed. The reaction will take
more time on account of the greater activity
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP 127
through the day. We should, therefore, take
especial pains to accentuate the recovery or recoil
of the muscles into sympathetic passivity and rest.
The object is now not to stimulate as much as in
the morning, but to allay all excitement, harmonize
the co-ordination of all parts, remove all local
activities in the different parts of the body, es-
tablish centrality of the vital functioning and the
diffusion of blood and feeling into every part.
It is well to practice the exercises on a hard floor
before getting into bed.
The more violent exercises should of course
be omitted unless there has been a one-sided
position during the day. For example, standing
exercises will be beneficial for a person who has
been sitting all day. We must practice intel-
ligently, and carefully apply such exercises as are
needed. Harmony means the removing of con-
strictions and over-activity in certain parts which
one finds upon exercising. These often need to
be vigorously exercised so as to restore the harmo-
nious condition.
On lying down on the floor feel in stretching as
if the body weighed a ton, — feel the weight of the
arms, legs and head.
Often we lie down but soon the excitement of a
thought brings us to our feet before we know it.
Eliminate all such exciting ideas, then let the
stretch reach every part. Let it be slow and
steady and let the release be gradual. There
should be a complete rest for quite a little period
before the next activity. Other things being equal,
the activity should be less than one-third of the
surrender not only in time but in attention.
Just before going to sleep it is well to practice a
few stretches and to give full expansion to the
128 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
chest and to take a few deep breaths slowly and
rhythmically so as to establish a vigorous and
normal rhythm, equalize circulation and bring all
parts into harmonious freedom.
In order to emphasize the rhythm in our evening
exercises we should accentuate and prolong espe-
cially the passive rest between the movements.
We should not only more gradually give up the
actions of the movements, accentuating the static
and eccentric contraction, but we should also feel
more sense of surrender at the end of each move-
ment. That is, we should feel a sense of weight
and of rest at the end of each action, breathing
easily, steadily and freely, all the time.
The time of this rest at the end of the exercising
should be prolonged more and more especially
after we are in bed and have felt the satisfactory
feeling all through the body of harmonious diffu-
sion of energy and the removal of constrictions.
This sense of satisfaction through all the body
is fundamental and necessary in order to bring
healthful and normal sleep.
The harmonious extension of all parts of the
body should be emphasized. All stretches are
truly conducive to sleep. They allow life to per-
meate through the whole body. The exercises,
before going to sleep, should be less rigorous un-
less there are constrictions and these should be
removed by simultaneous and sympathetic co-
ordination of all parts of the body rather than by
vigorous movements.
After any local movement the stretch should be
renewed and the affirmation made of some
thoughtful and beautiful idea — as love, joy, peace.
It will be surprising how quickly help will come
and weariness disappear. The entire body, in
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP 129
every cell, will be soothed and enjoy sweet re-
pose.
The affirmation of confidence, love, trust, and
peace should follow as well as precede the evening
exercises. We should make the going to sleep
a sacred part of our lives. In giving up our con-
sciousness we should be sure to surrender it to
the positive forces of the universe. This is not an
idle dream, nor a mere mystical fancy. Even
from a psychological point of view the emotion
with which we go to sleep is apt to remain with
us and get in its good or evil work in the uncon-
scious, involuntary metabolism that takes place
in all the cells. We must lie down to rest in
peace.
" Dr. Thomas Hyslop, of the West Riding Asy-
lum in England," according to Professor James in
" Memories and Portraits," ** said last year to the
British Medical Association that the best sleep-
producing agent which his practice had revealed
to him, was prayer. I say this," he added [I am
sorry to say here that I must quote from memory],
"purely as a medical man. The exercise of prayer,
in those who habitually exert it, must be regarded
by us doctors as the most adequate and normal
of all pacifiers of the mind and calmers of the
nerves.
" But in few of us are functions not tied up by the
exercise of other functions. Relatively few med-
ical and scientific men, I fancy, can pray. Few can
carry on any living commerce with God. Yet many
of us are well aware of how much freer and abler
our lives would be, were such important forms of
energizing not sealed up by the critical atmosphere
in which we have been reared. There are in
everyone potential forms of activity that actually
130 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
are shunted out from use. Part of the imperfect
vitality under which we labor can thus be easily
explained."
Have a few simple sentences full of thanks-
giving, of peace and rest. The best are found in
the Bible. The words to Moses, " My presence
shall go with thee and I will give thee rest," may
be given and repeated many times with a realiza-
tion of their deep meaning and a personal applica-
tion to the individual.
Not only repeat phrases, lines, and verses, full
of beautiful thought, but change these into your
own words. Learn to articulate your own con-
victions and apply them to your own needs, — even
paraphrase, for example, such a phrase as " He
restoreth my soul " in the twenty-third Psalm.
For the word " soul " we can substitute anything
according to the specific needs of the hour. We
should, however, use nothing that is not in accord-
ance with universal love and the highest spiritual
ideals of man and of our conceptions of the uni-
verse. We must always remember that truth is
universal.
We can change " soul " also to " health,"
" strength " or " life," to " joy," to " success,"
to " confidence," to the body or any part of the body
which may seem to be afflicted.
There are in this Psalm other good affirmations
on going to sleep. Take individual clauses and
repeat them many times, such as " I will fear no
evil, for Thou art with me."
One of the best affirmations is found in the first
of the twenty-seventh Psalm. " The Lord is my
light and and my salvation. Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom
[or of what] shall I be afraid? One thing have I
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP 131
asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may
dwell in the house of the Lord [in a consciousness
of His presence] all the days of my life, to behold
the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple
[to commune with Him in the sacred temple of my
own soul].
** Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on Thee."
Everyone should find his own, should find it
in his experience, find it by personal investigation
and study of the Bible and through spiritual
realization.
We should live in peace with all men, be able
to rejoice evermore, " to pray without ceasing '' ;
that is, we should always be in an attitude to re-
ceive that which is good and never admit that
which is negative; — hate, antagonism or fear, —
but we should welcome love and that which we
know expresses the " Infinite Presence." Antag-
onism, hate, discords prevent us from living our
hundred years. " Certain classes of men shall not
live out half their days."
The last moment before going to sleep should
be one of peaceful rest. Say " Not my will but
Thine " and give up everything to the Infinite and
Eternal.
My own best help is thanksgiving and praise.
When I cannot give up the thoughts and conflicts
of the day, I can bring my whole being into repose-
ful rhythm best by expressing thanks that I can
be awake and that I have shared in the life of a day.
I praise the Infinite Presence that I can know
beauty when I see it, that I can understand truth
and know that two times three are not seven and
that I can participate in the goodness of the uni-
verse. Then, before I know it, I have laid aside
132 HOW TO ADD TEN YEARS TO YOUR LIFE
the conflicts of the day and have passed into peace-
ful and harmonious rest.
This method of thanksgiving especially applies
to those times when I wake up in the middle of
the night.
Returning to Pippa, we find her retirement to
her own room and her method of going to sleep no
less suggestive as an example than her awakening.
She met the first wakening moment with joy
and praise as she resolutely put aside the dark
thought of her life and went singing all through
the day with the same spirit of thanksgiving and
love for all mankind.
Now she comes back to her room weary and
discouraged, as we nearly all do. She knows
nothing of what her songs have accomplished,
nothing of the wonderful influence that has been
exercised. In her disheartened moment she sees
the sunset in the dark cloud and thinking over the
day she would like to know what she really has
done.
Yet she checks herself and returns to her morn-
ing hymn and keeps her faith and trust. " Re-
sults belong to the Master, Thou hast no need to
measure them." She becomes very humble,
willing, and submissive to the hard task of the
morrow. Little she dreams of the revelation that
will come of the secrets of her own life and family.
" We know not what we shall be." Each of us
at the close of life lies down without realizing our
relation to the Infinite, without realizing that we
are children and heirs. Blessed is he who feels
that his hymn is also " True in some sense or
other," that life is true and that each one performs
some work and it is not for us to say whether it is
SIGNIFICANCE OF NIGHT AND SLEEP 133
great or small. They who v/rought but one hour
received the same wages as they who wrought the
whole day.
Deeply symbolical, allegorical, and typical in the
poetic sense of human life is Pippa's closing
thought as she lies down to sleep.
" Oh what a drear dark close to my poor day !
How could that red sun drop in that black cloud?
Ah, Pippa, morning's rule is moved away,
Dispensed with, never more to be allowed !
Day's turn is over, now arrives the night's.
Oh, lark, be day's apostle
To mavis, merle and throstle,
Bid them their betters jostle
From day and its delights!
But at night, brother howlet, over the woods,
Toll the world to thy chantry;
Sing to the bats' sleek sisterhoods
Full complines with gallantry;
Then, owls and bats.
Cowls and twats.
Monks and nuns, in a cloister's moods,
Adjourn to the oak-stump pantry !
Now, one thing I should like to really know:
How near I ever might approach all these
I only fancied being, this long day :
— Approach, I mean, so as to touch them, so
As to ... in some way . . . move them — if you please,
Do good or evil to them some slight way.
For instance, if I wind
Silk to-morrow, my silk may bind
And border Ottima's cloak's hem.
Ah, me, and my important part with them,
This morning's hymn half promised when I rose!
True in some sense or other, I suppose.
God bless me ! I can pray no more to-night.
No doubt, some way or other, hymns say right.
All service ranks the same with God,
With God, whose puppets, best and worst:
Are we; there is no last nor first." [She sleeps]
The Morning League of the School of Expression
is a band of the students, graduates and friends of the School
of Expression who are trying to keep their faces toward the
morning.
If you wish to join, when you wake GET UP OUT OF THE
RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED, that is, stretch, expand, breathe
deeply and laugh. Fill with joyous thoughts and their active
expressions the first minutes of the day.
Note the effect, and consider yourself initiated.
Try as far as possible EVERY DAY to realize the League's
UNFOLDMENT SUGGESTIONS
1. SMILE whenever tempted to frown; look for and enjoy the best around
you.
2. THINK, feel or realize something in the direction of yotir ideals and,
in some way, unite your ideals with your everyday work and play,
3. SEE, hear or read, i. e., receive an impression from something beautiful
in nature, art, music, poetry, literature or the lives of your fellowmen.
4. EXPRESS the best that is in you and awaken ottiers to express the best
in them.
6. SERVE some fellow being by listening, by kind look, tone, word or deed.
6. SHARE in some of the great movements for the betterment of the race.
That is, use your principles of expression to help in such movements as:
1. Expression in Life (text book, "The Smile"); 2. Expression and Health
(text book, "How to Add Ten Years to Your Life") ; 3. Expression and Educa-
tion in the Nursery; Mothers' Clubs; 4. Voice in the Home; 5. Reading in the
Public Schools; 6. Speaking in High Schools and Colleges; 7. Speaking Clubs;
8. Browning Clubs (text book, "Browning and the Dramatic Monologue");
9. Dramatic Clubs; 10. Religious Societies; 11. Boy Scouts; 12, Campfire Girls;
13. Peace Movements; 14. Women's Clubs; and Suffrage Organizations;
16. Reforms; 16. Teachers' Clubs; 17. School of Expression Summer Terms;
18. Preparation for the School of Expression; 19. Home Studies; 20. Advanced
Steps of the School of Expression.
Send your name and address with ten nominations for
members with $1.50 for the two League text books, "The
Smile " and " How to Add Ten Years to Your Life," and
you will be recorded a member. One set of books will do for
a family, other books at teachers' or introductory prices.
There are no fees. The entire net returns from the League
books will be devoted to the endowment of the School of
Expression, the Home of the League.
Write frankly and freely asking any counsel, and making
any suggestions to the President of the League.
Dr. S. S. CURRY, 307 Pierce Bldg.
Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
MORNING LEAGUE QUESTIONS FOR REPORT
Text-books—" The Smile " and " How to Add Ten Years to
Your Life "
After a week's exercise for a few minutes either on waking
up or on retiring, write out a report of your experiences or
answer the following questions. It is not necessary to repeat
the questions, simply use figures. These questions follow
the first series, published at the close of " The Smile."
22. Do you practice the exercises on waking in the morning?
23. What exercises do you usually take? How long?
24. What are some of the effects of these exercises?
25. How many times do you repeat each exercise?
26. Do you practice exercises in dual, triple, or quadruple
rhythm?
27. Can you keep your chest expanded and laugh at the same
time?
28. Can you keep your chest fully expanded and pivot the
torso?
29. Do you feel great satisfaction after stretching?
30. What constrictions or congestions have you found?
a. In the region of the stomach
b. Chest
c. Neck
d. Face
e. Scalp
f. Back
3L Do you find any special weaknesses?
32. Do you walk with expanded chest?
33. Do you walk rhythmically?
34. Can you keep your chest well expanded during the
stretch?
35. Do you practice exercises standing at an open doorway?
36. Have you a pole from which you swing in your closet?
37. Do you sleep well?
38. What exercises do you take on retiring?
39. Do you relax completely in the middle of the day?
40. What chaotic movements have you discovered in your
standing? In sitting? In walking? In lying down?
4L Do you breathe through your nose or through your
mouth, especially when asleep?
MORNING LEAGUE QUESTIONS FOR REPORT
42. Do you sleep with your windows wide open?
43. Can you laugh out a tone?
44. Taking a full breath and laughing, do your feel your
throat passive?
45. Can you co-ordinate an open throat and active retention
of breath in laughing out a tone?
46. After walking a short distance do you feel exhilaration
or depression?
47. Do you use soft gentle tones in every day conversation?
48. When talking to someone who speaks in a high pitch
can you act in the opposite way, and speak in your
softest tones?
49. Can you make tone as easily as you smile?
For other questions, see " The Smile."
Province of Expression. Principles and method
of developing delivery.
An Introduction to the study of the natural languages, and
their relation to art and development. By S. S. Curry, Ph.D.,
Litt.D. $1 .50 ; to teachers, $1 .20, postpaid.
Your volume is to me a very wonderful book, — it is so deeply philosophic,
and so exhaustive of all aspects of the subject. . . . No one can read your
book without at least gaining a high ideal of the study of expression. You have
laid a deep and strong foundation for a scientific system. And now we wait
for the superstructure. — Professor Alexander Melville Bell.
It is a most valuable book, and ought to be instrumental in doing much
good.— Professor J. W. Churchill, D.D.
A book of rare significance and value, not only to teachers of the vocal arts,
but also to all students of fundamental pedagogical principle. In its field I
know of no work presenting in an equally happy combination philosophic
insight, scientific breadth, moral loftiness of tone, and literary felicity of ex-
position.— William F. Warren, D.D., LL.D., of Boston University.
Lessons in Vocal Expression. The expressive
modulations of
the voice developed by studying and training the voice and
mind in relation to each other. Eighty-six definite problems
and progressive steps. By S. S. Curry, Ph.D., Litt.D. $1.25;
to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
It ought to do away with the artificial and mechanical styles of teaching. —
Henry W. Smith, A.M., Professor of Elocution, Princeton University.
Through the use of your text-book on vocal expression, I have had the past
term much better results and more manifest interest on the subject than ever
before. — A. H. Merrill, A.M., late Professor of Elocution, Vanderbilt University.
The subject is handled in a new and original manner, and catmot fail to
revolutionize the old elocutionary ideas. — Mail and Empire, Toronto.
It is capital, good sense, and real instruction. — W. E. Huntington, LL.D.,
Ex-President of Boston University.
Imagination and Dramatic Instinct. P^nc-
tionof
the imagination and assimilation in the vocal interpretation
of literature and speaking. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D. $1.50;
to teachers, $1.20, postpaid.
Dr. Curry well calls the attention of speakers to the processes of thinking
in the modulation of the voice. Every one will be benefited by reading his
volumes. . . . Too much stress can hardly be laid on the author's ground
principle, that where a method aims to regulate the modulation of the voice
by rules, then inconsistencies and lack of organic coherence begin to take the
place of that sense of life which lies at the heart of every true product of art.
On the contrary, where vocal expression is studied as a manifestation of the
processes of thinking, there results the truer energy of the student's powers
and the more natural unity of the complex elements of his expression. — Dr.
Lyman Abbott, in The Outlook.
Address : Book Dept., School of Expression, 306 Pierce Bldg.,
Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
Mind and Voice. Principles underlying all phases of
■ Vocal 1 raining. 1 he psychological
and physiological conditions of tone production and scientific
and artistic methods of developing them. A work of vital
importance to every one interested in improving the qualities
of the voice and in correcting slovenly speech. 456 pages.
By S. S. Curry, Litt.D. $1.50, postpaid. To teachers, $1.25,
postpaid.
It is indeed a masterly and stimulating work. — Amos R. Wells, Editor Chris-
tian World.
It is a book that will be of immense help to teachers and preachers, and to
others who are using their vocal organs continuously. As an educational
work on an important theme, the book has a unique value. — Book News
Monthly.
There is pleasure and profit in reading what he says. — Evening Post (Chi-
cago).
Fills a real need in the heart and library of every true teacher and student
of the development of natural vocal expression. — Western Recorder (Louis-
ville).
Get it and study it and you will never regret it. — Christian Union Herald
(Pittsburg).
Foundation of Expression. Fundamentals of a
. psychological method
of training voice, body, and mind and of teaching speaking and
reading. 236 problems; 411 choice passages. A thorough
and practical text-book for school and college, and for private
study. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D. $1.25; to teachers, $1.10,
postpaid.
It means the opening of a new door to me by the master of the garden. —
Frank Putnam.
Mastery of the subject and wealth of illustration are manifest in all your
treatment of the subject. Should prove a treasure to any man who cares
for effective public speaking. —Prof essor L. O. Brastow, Yale.
Adds materially to the author's former contributions to this science and art,
to which he is devoting his life most zealously. — Journal of Education.
May be read with profit by all who love literature.— Denis A. McCarthy,
Sacred Heart Review.
It gets at the heart of the subject and is the most practical and clearest
book on the important steps in expression that I have ever read.— Edith W.
Moses.
How splendid it is; it is at once practical in its simplicity and helpfulness
and inspiring. Every teacher ought to be grateful for it.— Jane Herendeen,
Teacher of Expression in Jamaica Normal School, N. Y.
Best, most complete, and up-to-date.— Alfred Jenkins Shriver, LL.B.,
Baltimore.
Public speakers and especially the young men and women in high schools,
academies, and colleges will find here one of the most helpful and sug-
gestive books by one of the greatest living teachers of the subject, that
was ever presented to the public— John Marshall Barker, Ph.D., Professor
in Boston University.
Address: Book Dept., School of Expression, 306 Pierce Bldg.,
Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
Browning and the Dramatic Monologue.
Nature and peculiarities of Browning's poetry. How to un-
derstand Browning. The principles involved in rendering the
monologue. An introduction to Browning, and to dramatic
platform art. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D., $1.25; to teachers,
$1.10, postpaid.
It seems to me to attack the central difficulty in understanding and reading
Robert Browning's poetry. ... It opens a wide door to the greatest poetry of
the modern age. — The Rev. John R. Gow, President of the Boston Browning
Society.
A book which sheds an entirely new light on Browning and should be read
by every student of the great master; indeed, everyone who would be well in-
formed should read this book, which will interest any lover of literature. —
Journal of Education.
Spoken English. ^ method of co-ordinating impres-
sion and expression in reading,
conversation, and speaking. It contains suggestions on the
importance of observation and adequate impression, and
nature study, as a basis to adequate expression. The steps
are carefully arranged for the awakening of the imagina-
tion and dramatic instinct, right feeling, and natural, spon-
taneous expression. 320 pages. By S. S. Curry, Litt.D.,
Ph.D. Price, $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
Every page had something that caught my attention. You certainly have
grasped the great principle of vocal expression. — Edwin Markham.
Those who aim at excelling in public utterance and address may well possess
themselves of this work. — Journal of Education.
The specialist in reading will wish to add it to his book-shelf for permanent
reference. — Normal Instructor.
A masterly presentation of ideas and expression as applied in a wide range
of excellent selections. — The World's Chronicle.
Little Classics for Oral English, a compan-
ion to Spok-
en English. The problems correspond by sections with
Spoken English. The books may be used together or sep-
arately. The problems are arranged in the form of ques-
tions which the student can answer properly only by rightly
rendering the passages. It is a laboratory method for spoken
English, to be used by the first year students in High School
or the last years of the Grammar School. 384 pages. By
S. S. Curry, Litt.D. Price, $1.25; to teachers, $1.10, postpaid.
I am using Little Classics for Oral English in two classes and believe it is
the most satisfactory text that I have used. The students seem to be able to
get easily the principles from your questions and problems. — Elva M. Forn-
crook, St. Nor. Sch., Kalamazoo, Mich.
A fine collection of fine things especially suited to young people. Every
teacher of reading and English in our secondary schools ought to have the
book. — Prof. Lee Emerson Bassett, Leland Stanford University, Cal.
Address: Book Dept., School of Expression, 306 Pierce Bldg.,
Copley Square, Boston, Mass.
What Students and Graduates Think
of the School of Expression
"We know that there is something BIG here. If only we can
get it out to the world." — Caroline A. Hardwick (Philosophic
Diploma), Instructor in Reading and Speaking, Wellesley
College.
"At no other institution is it possible to secure the training
one secures at the School of Expression. It is far broader
than a mere training for speaking. It is a fundamental train-
ing for life." — Florence E. Lutz (Philosophic Diploma),
Instructor in Pantomime, New York City.
"The School of Expression taught me how to LIVE. I
think its training of the personality is its greatest work." —
F. M. Sargent (Dramatic Artist's Diploma).
"I feel deeply indebted to the School for some of the best
and most lasting inspiration I have received for my own work
as a teacher of my fellow-men." — Luella Clay Carson, Pres.
of Mills College.
"The success I have attained in my profession as a reader, I
owe directly to the advanced methods of the School of Ex-
pression."— Caroline Foye Flanders (Artistic Diploma),
Public Reader, Manchester, N. H.
"The School of Expression of Boston is the most thorough
and best in the country. It is different from all other schools.
I wish I could talk to any who intend taking a course of study.
— I would say. Go to the School of Expression and if there is
anything in you, they will bring it out; they will teach you to
know youself ; they will show you what you are in comparison
with what you may become, and they will begin with the cause
and start from the bottom." — Hamilton Colman, Member
Richard Mansfield Co.
"When I was your student you held before me intellectual
and ethical ideals which I am still trying to realize." — Charles
L. White, D.D., Ex-President Colby College.
"The same principles of education which have installed
manual training in public schools are even more applicable to
the training of men's souls to rational self-expression. Dr.
Curry will some day be recognized to have been an educational
philosopher for having championed principles no less true of
the spoken word than of every form of creative self-expres-
sion."— Dean Shailer Mathews, University of Chicago.
"The whole world ought to learn about the School of Ex-
pression and your discoveries." — Rev. J. Stanley Durkee
(Speaker's Diploma), Boston.
BOSTON UNIVERSITY ^^^^
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